Nurse specialist and ostomy patient: Competence and skills in the care pathway. A scoping review

Aims and objectives: To summarise the evidence published to date regarding nursing core competence in stoma care of any type of ostomy throughout the patient's ostomy surgery candidate care pathway from preoperative to follow-up.

Background: Nurses should play a key role in all ostomy patient care pathways to help them to adapt to the new physics and psychological conditions from the preoperative phases to the prevention of tardive stomal complications.

Design: Scoping review.

Methods: This scoping review was conducted following the methodological framework proposed by Arskey and O'Malley, following the Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis for Scoping Review. PRISMA-ScR Checklist is included in the manuscript. The following databases were queried: PubMed, EMBASE and CINAHL, from August to October 2022.

Results: The search strategy in the consulted databases identified 3144 studies. Different types of ostomies were found and investigated: tracheostomy, gastrostomy, jejunostomy, ileostomy, colostomy and urostomy. The results of the included studies helped address the objective that allowed the ostomatherapy skills to be broken down into the different periods of the care pathway.

Conclusion: Caring for an ostomy patient requires advanced skills and a trusting relationship. The skills outlined in this research suggest how essential the stoma care nurse specialist is in these patients' care.