Development of an early nurse led intervention to treat children referred to secondary paediatric care with constipation with or without soiling

BACKGROUND: Constipation is a common chronic childhood condition referred to secondary care. Effective treatment requires early intervention, prolonged medication to soften stools and behavioural support to achieve a regular habit of sitting on the toilet to pass a stool. The purpose of this audit and service development was to assess routine consultant paediatrician-led care against minimum standards and if appropriate to develop a nurse-led intervention. The new care package could then be tried out within general paediatric clinics in Glasgow as a service evaluation. NICE guideline (CG99) has a research recommendation to compare nurse-led care with routine consultant-led care. METHODS: Design was an audit then development of a nurse-led intervention followed by a service evaluation. Participants were children (age 0–13 years), referred by their General Practitioner (GP) to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Glasgow, with constipation the main problem in the GP letter. The audit covered appointment waiting times, intervention provided, initial follow-up and parental satisfaction with routine consultant-led practice. The nurse-led intervention focused on self-help psychology practice with NICE guideline medical support. This was compared with routine consultant paediatrician care in a service evaluation. RESULTS: The audit found consultant-led care had long waiting times, delayed initial follow-up and variable intervention. The new nurse-led intervention is described in detail. The nurse-led intervention performed well compared with consultant-led care. Less ‘nurse-led’ children, 3/45 (7%), were still constipated passing less than 3 stools per week compared with 8/58 (14%) receiving consultant-led care. Less ‘nurse-led’ parents, 10/45 (22%), reported their child having pain passing stools in the previous week compared with consultant-led care, 26/58 (45%). The proportion of children, over 4 years, free from soiling accidents was similar, 15/23 (65%) in the nurse-led group and 18/29 (62%) with consultant-led care. Parental satisfaction was slightly better in the nurse-led group. CONCLUSION: It is difficult to achieve minimum standards using routine consultant-led care for children referred by their GP with constipation. Nurse-led early intervention is feasible and has produced promising results in a service evaluation. An exploratory trial is planned to develop a teaching module, robust outcomes including costs and benefits, and methodology for a definitive trial recommended by NICE.