Introduction

• Bowel management (BM) is an inadvertently overlooked aspect of patient care for critically ill patients who have complex, immediate life-threatening health issues.

• Bowel dysfunction is common with the reported incidence of diarrhea between 3.3%-78% and constipation between 20-83%

• Studies suggest that BM guidelines can standardize care, improve documentation, and impact patient outcomes

• Use of BM guidelines has remained low, probably influenced by clinicians’ resistance to change, resulting in small to moderate improvements and difficulties sustaining new practices

• We anticipated that sustained changes require recognizing clinicians’ current practice, integrating modifications into existing workflow, and engaging staff to contribute to any proposed changes