Incontinence-associated dermatitis in the acute care setting: An exploration of the phenomenon

Incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) is a common, painful and costly threat to skin integrity and quality of life in older hospital patients. Through an exploration of this multidimensional phenomenon, this thesis has advanced understanding of the prevalence of IAD and associated Candida colonisation and infection in the acute care setting. The novel Skin Safety Model integrates the multi-factorial influences of patient, hospital environment and situational stressors, and proposes a re-conceptualisation away from the historical focus on discrete skin injury; pioneering a new framework to guide a unified understanding of maintaining skin integrity that can be applied across the broad range of skin injuries