How to Run a Continence Product Trial in Aged Care Facilities
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Why trial before you switch
A brochure can tell you a product's waist range. It can't tell you how that product sits on a resident who is restless overnight, or how long a change takes on a busy morning shift. That gap is the reason to run a continence product trial in aged care before a facility switches products or suppliers.
A brochure misses three things: your residents, your staff workflow and your facility. Our guide to continence care in aged care facilities covers product selection, supplier evaluation and the wider regulatory picture. This page picks up one part of it: how to run the trial itself, and how to ask Comfort First to set one up.
If you were searching for free continence samples for aged care, or incontinence product samples for a facility, the trial below is the route. It's set up around your residents rather than sent as a standard pack.
How do you run a continence product trial in aged care?
Trial a new continence product with a group of residents across different care needs. Record each resident's skin condition before you start, then log leaks, staff time per change and resident comfort, and write the findings into each care plan.
The steps below expand the method set out in our guide. They work whether you're trialling continence products in a nursing home wing or across a whole site.
| Step | What to do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Choose residents | Residents across different care needs and mobility levels | A spread of residents shows how the product works for the people you actually care for, not just one of them. |
| 2. Set the length | Agree a length before you start | Long enough to see the product across day and night shifts and different staff. |
| 3. Record a baseline | Each resident's skin condition before the trial starts, in your usual assessment format | Gives you something to compare against at the end. |
| 4. Record during the trial | Leakage incidents, staff time per change and resident comfort | Feeds the comparison at step 6. |
| 5. Collect feedback | Structured feedback from residents and from care staff | Residents wear the product and staff apply it. You need both views. |
| 6. Compare | Set the trial records against the baseline and your current product | An objective basis for the decision, rather than a general impression. |
What to assess during an aged care continence product trial
The trial records tell you what happened. These five questions tell you whether it worked.
- Fit at each size. Size by waist measurement only. Check our sizing guide for each style before the trial starts, so every resident begins in the size that matches their measurement.
- Absorbency against assessed need. Match each product to the resident's continence assessment, so you're testing the product against the need you've documented.
- Ease of application and removal. Ask the staff who do the changes, on each shift the trial covers.
- Skin condition. Note it during and after the trial against the baseline. This is a trial observation; any concern goes through your facility's usual clinical process.
- Resident comfort and dignity. Ask the resident directly where they're able to tell you, and record what they say in their own words.
Comfort First's continence products for an aged care facility trial include Pull-Up Pants and Wraparounds (slips), with Insert Booster Pads worn inside either one. You can look through the full Comfort First range before you decide what to include, and choosing continence products for older people sets out how the styles differ.
Record the trial so it counts
A trial that lives in a spreadsheet on one person's desk doesn't help much at audit. Write the findings into each resident's care plan: the product and size trialled, what was observed, and what was decided. That shows the reasoning behind the product each resident now uses.
Under the strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards, continence sits within Standard 5, under Outcome 5.5, Safety of clinical care services on the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission site. For what an assessor looks for, see what the strengthened Quality Standards ask for continence care.
Ask Comfort First for a free product trial
There's no fixed trial pack. Contact Comfort First and we'll talk through how many residents you want to include, and which products, styles and sizes you want to trial. The trial is then set up to suit your facility's needs.
It's a free product trial with no purchase obligation. After the trial, our team follows up to discuss the findings with you.
You can reach us by email at sales@comfortfirst.au, by phone on 03 5443 2239, or through our facility and trade supply page. Comfort First is Australian owned and run from East Bendigo, and a registered NDIS provider. If cost is your next question, see who pays for continence products in aged care.
For the wider picture on supply, standards and product choice, go back to our guide to continence care in aged care facilities.