Italian Guidelines for the Nursing Management of Enteral and Urinary Stomas in Adults: An Executive Summary

PURPOSE: This article is an executive summary of Italian guidelines for nursing management of enteral and urinary ostomies in adults. METHODS: Scoping review and generation of evidence and consensus-based clinical guidelines. SEARCH STRATEGY: The Multidisciplinary Italian Study group for STOmas (MISSTO) was founded in 2018. This group created guidelines for management of enteral and urinary ostomies in adults based on a scoping review of the literature. The research included previous guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized clinical trials, cohort studies, and case reports. Five main topics were identified: "stoma preparation," "stoma creation," "stoma complications," "stoma care," and "stoma reversal" (for enteral stomas)." All the studies were evaluated according to the GRADE system and AGREE II tool. Recommendations were elaborated in the form of statements, with an established grade of recommendation for each statement. For low levels of scientific evidence statements, a consensus conference composed of expert members of the major Italian scientific societies in the field of stoma management and care discussed, corrected, validated, or eliminated the statements. A final version of the guidelines with definitive recommendations was elaborated and prepared for publication. FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS: This document represents the first Italian guidelines on enteral and urinary stoma management to assist nurses caring for persons with an enteral or urinary ostomy.