The Bowel Research Collaborative Data Tracking System Implementation Study

The project's primary purpose is to establish a network of Hospice Palliative Care settings using a common and consistent method of assessing and documenting bowel functioning in order to be able to carry out future collaborative studies of constipation treatments. The secondary goal is to gather normative data on current bowel care function and outcomes of current treatments which can be used to determine sample size calculations for future controlled trials of bowel management protocols. In order to complete this goal the project requires a thorough assessment of current nursing practice in regard to bowel care.