Traveling and Overactive Bladder

Holiday season is right around the corner and for people living with overactive bladder, it can cause a lot of stress and anxiety about visiting family or friends, traveling and even avoiding certain holiday  meals that can irritate the bladder.   In this segment, Diane Newman, a nurse practitioner specializing in urology and a spokesperson for Urovant Sciences discusses overactive bladder and offers tips to help manage this common condition.

Diane K. Newman, DNP, ANP-BC, FAAN, BCB-PMD is Adjunct Professor of Urology in Surgery, and Research Investigator Senior, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. She is CoDirector of the Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health, Division of Urology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, in Philadelphia. Diane Newman received her DNP at the Thomas Jefferson University. She completed her adult practitioner training and MSN at the University of Pennsylvania. Newman has 30+ years’ experience practicing as a urology nurse in long-term care, home care and ambulatory care setting. Since 2000, she has practiced in the Division of Urology at PENN Medicine. Her current practice involves the evaluation, treatment, and management of urinary incontinence and related pelvic disorders including the use of biofeedback for pelvic floor disorders and catheters and other devices in the management of bladder dysfunction. In addition to a clinical practice, Diane conducts research on several urologic conditions. She is involved in federally-funded research currently including: Principal Investigator (PI), University of Pennsylvania site, PENN+PLUS Clinical Center,  Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium, 1U01DK106892-06. She is a co-investigator on the NIH  Pelvic Floor Disorders Network Clinical Sites  (1U10HD069010-01), and on  Neurogenic bladder dysfunctions in neurological disorders, P20 DK097819-01 NIDDK/NIH, NIH and a co-investigator on the  Perioperative Post-Prostatectomy Incontinence Home Telehealth Program, VA Merit Grant. She has served as a University of Pennsylvania site PI on  Translating Unique Learning for Incontinence Prevention: The TULIP Project, (R01NR012011, NINR/NIH) and on  Group Learning Achieves Decreased Incidents of Lower Urinary Symptoms  (GLADIOLUS) University of Pennsylvania, NIA/NIH. Newman was the urology expert to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Evidence-Based Practice CAUTI Group. This group is involved in developing nursing algorithms for management of indwelling catheters, RN driven protocol for catheter removals, and implementation of evidence practice for nursing care of indwelling catheters. The group has twice received the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Quality & Patient Safety Award. In 2012 for  Sustainable change reducing hospital-wide CA-UTI rate: A multi-interventional approach and in 2015 for Implementation and Evaluation of a System-Wide Nurse Driven Removal Protocol for Indwelling Urinary Catheters (Foleys).Newman was a member of the panel of experts of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s Scope and Severity of Nursing Care Deficiencies in long term care on “Guidance to Surveyors on Incontinence and Catheters-Tag F315.” She was the Co-chair of the 1996 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Clinical Practice Guideline on  Urinary Incontinence: Acute and Chronic Management. She served as a member of the Gastroenterology and Urology Devices Panel of the FDA. In 2002, the National Association for Continence presented her with the Continence Care Champion Award. She was the Chairperson of the 2nd – 6th (2017) Committee on Continence Promotion, Education & Primary Prevention for the International Consultation on Incontinence. She was the Co-chair of the 2018 International Continence Society Annual meeting in Philadelphia. Over the last three decades, Newman has held multiple leadership positions in professional groups and government-sponsored expert panels. Newman is an internationally known speaker on the topic of pelvic floor disorders. She has experience in informing consumers about pelvic floor disorders and with continence promotion. Her AJN article on “Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women” was cited by the New York Times Personal Health Column, September 2003. She was interviewed in a 2007 issue of Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine, a 2009 issue of  Ladies Home Journal, and her clinical practice was featured in a 2008 issue of  USA Today. She has presented more than 100 scientific papers, chapters, and articles on the assessment, treatment, and nonsurgical management of incontinence -authored many notable books book chapters and medical publications on the topic. Her recent research on non-surgical interventions for urinary incontinence was published in JAMA internal Medicine. Newman is an internationally known speaker on the topic of urinary incontinence and the use of devices and products for its management. She has been invited to speak in Gothenburg, mainland China, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore, Manila, Sapporo, Yokohomo, Florence, Monaco, London, Edinburgh, Monte Carlo, Halifax, Montreal and Bournemouth. She has developed a urologic nursing curriculum for nurses to be certified as urology nurses for the Chinese Health Authority in Hong Kong and continues to provide observation and educational training for Hong Kong nurses. She is an Associate Editor on Neuro-urology and Urodynamics. She is the author of several books,  The Urinary Incontinence Sourcebook, Managing and  Treating Urinary Incontinence  (1st and 2nd editions),  Overcoming Overactive Bladder  and a coauthor of  Fast Facts: Bladder Disorders. She is the lead editor of the 1st edition of the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates  Core Curriculum for Urologic Nursing and of Clinical Application of Urologic Catheters, Devices and Products.