Tool and Resources to Help Improve Urinary Incontinence Care for Women

The EvidenceNOW: Managing Urinary Incontinence (MUI) program produced an environmental scan that includes existing evidence and tools to inform nonsurgical treatment of urinary incontinence of women in primary care. In addition, MUI grantees have developed a range of resources, tools, and methods to support primary care practices in managing urinary incontinence in women. These resources can be adopted, adapted, or replicated in diverse healthcare settings.

Clinical Decision Support Tools (PDF, 1 MB)

This best practice advisory is based on a practice-based intervention to improve care for a diverse population of women with urinary incontinence. 

Examples of Urinary Incontinence-Focused Patient Participant Newsletters (PDF, 1 MB) 

These are examples of quarterly email newsletters sent to patients actively enrolled in their AHRQ EvidenceNOW: Managing Urinary Incontinence Initiative study as well as participating practices. The goal was to keep patient participants and practice staff engaged throughout the study with clinical trial status updates, “meet the study team” highlights, and various educational resources for patients.

Examples of Urinary Incontinence Intervention Sustainability Menus (PDF, 189 KB)

These practice- and patient-facing sustainability menus offer next steps after project participation, such as practice opportunities for continuing quality improvement efforts and additional patient resources to help them manage their urinary incontinence.

Female Primary Care Urinary Incontinence Screening Questions (English and Spanish) (Word, 41 KB)

This resource contains options for screening for urinary incontinence in your practice for both English and Spanish speakers. 

Female Urinary Incontinence Smart Set (PDF, 143 KB) 

This document contains the Smart Set—an EHR clinical decision-making tool—that the study team provided to clinicians.

Implementing Automated Patient Questionnaires (PDF, 923 KB) 

This presentation outlines how the study team implemented automated urinary incontinence patient questionnaires prior to appointments. It includes implementation strategy, workflow, and depictions of the patient and clinician view of the EHR.

Incontinence Table of Contents: Launch Toolkit (PDF, 82 KB)

This document is a table of contents providing links to a suite of tools supplied by practice facilitators to support the implementation of screening for and treating urinary incontinence in women.

Interactive Urinary Incontinence Care Pathway Flowchart (PDF, 173 KB)

This diagram, which can be used by providers, incontinence managers, nurses, and others, shows the various levels of severity of urinary incontinence and indicates appropriate steps to take to treat symptoms.

Managing Urinary Incontinence for Women in Primary Care (PDF, 3.2 MB)

This environmental scan identifies existing evidence on interventions, strategies, and tools for disseminating and implementing nonsurgical urinary incontinence treatments for women in primary care settings. This report updates and supplements the findings of the initial 2022 scan. Access a summary of this e-scan here (PDF, 375 KB).

Patient Information Infographic: Bladder Matters for Women (PDF, 2.7 MB)

This short one-pager educates women about the scope of the UI problem, what effective nonsurgical treatments are available, and encourages them to talk to their doctor. 

Pelvic Floor Therapy Exercise Handout (PDF, 2 MB) 

This document is a resource provided to patients providing instructions on how to perform various pelvic floor exercises to aid urinary incontinence symptoms.

Primary Care Clinician Educational Module on Urinary Incontinence (PDF, 789 KB)

Using 5 case studies, this educational module guides clinicians on how to screen, identify, and treat urinary incontinence in women.

Provider Information Infographic: Bladder Matters for Women (PDF, 2.7 MB)

This short one-pager includes recommendations by clinicians for clinicians on treating patients with UI. It summarizes the scope of the problem, highlights effective nonsurgical treatments available, and includes patient testimonials.

Sample Patient Recruitment Flyer (PDF, 1.7 MB)

This patient recruitment flyer is an example of one way for practices to recruit patients for AHRQ’s Managing Urinary Incontinence Project.

Urinary Incontinence Care Pathway (PDF, 329 KB) 

This UI care pathway flowchart was created to aid practices participating in their intervention designed for the AHRQ EvidenceNOW: Managing Urinary Incontinence initiative. This diagram, which can be used by providers, incontinence managers, nurses, and others, shows the various levels of severity of UI and indicates appropriate steps to take to treat symptoms. Several links are embedded throughout the care flowchart that direct clinicians to external educational resources that they can use to help treat their patients.  

Urinary Incontinence Clinician Pocket Guide (PDF, 270 KB)

This pocket guide outlines lifestyle modifications, diagnosis codes, and treatment options for urinary incontinence for Veterans Administration providers. 

Urinary Incontinence EHR Materials (Word, 45 KB) 

This document contains options for note text and after-visit summary language to be included in your EHR.

Urinary Incontinence EHR Materials: Referral List  (Word, 44 KB) 

This is a guide the study group created for primary care practices to identify local pelvic floor physical therapists, urologists, and urogynecologists and create a referral list. 

Urinary Incontinence EHR Screening Tools Tip Sheets (PDF, 874 KB) 

This document contains Northwestern Medicine’s EPIC^© Tip Sheets to guide clinicians and clinical support staff on how to review female urinary incontinence screening tools in their EHR.

Urinary Incontinence EHR Screening Tools Tip Sheets (English and Spanish) (PDF, 260 KB) 

This document shows the study team’s screening invitation language (in English & Spanish) used in their AHRQ EvidenceNOW: Managing Urinary Incontinence Project. The invitation includes a one-item screening question as well as an invitation for patients to engage in a shared decision-making educational module about urinary incontinence.

Urinary Incontinence Exam Room Poster (PDF, 578 KB)  

This poster, which participating primary care practices hung up in their exam rooms, explains what urinary incontinence is and encourages women to complete a screening questionnaire. 

Urinary Incontinence Patient Recruitment and Education Flyer (PDF, 950 KB) 

This document is an example of a recruitment tool that was used to educate women about UI and encourage them to talk to their doctor about their symptoms or sign up for the research study.

Urinary Incontinence Pocket Guide (PDF, 195 KB)

This pocket guide provides clinicians with a quick view of the urinary incontinence treatment algorithm as well as descriptions of the clinical decision support tools developed as part of a multisite practice-based intervention to improve care for a diverse population of women with urinary incontinence.

Urinary Incontinence Primary Care Screening Workflow (PDF, 479 KB) 

This flowchart indicates the workflow the implemented for screening women for urinary incontinence in primary care during wellness and preventative visits. This implementation strategy included an automated pre-visit questionnaire.

Urinary Incontinence Treatment Algorithm (Word, 37 KB) 

This document is a table of contents providing links to a suite of tools supplied by the practice facilitation team to support implementation of screening for and treating urinary incontinence. Resources include a UI treatment algorithm, patient education materials, practice launch videos, electronic health record (EHR) templates, and more.