Urinary Incontinence Pad Test - What to Expect

sound_foundation | Jul 9, 2011 |

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Testing for many types of incontinence such as stress incontinence or overflow incontinence may be performed by a simple yet surprising effective test called the Pad Test. A doctor orders this test to accurately gauge the amount of urinary leakage that occurs over a set period of time. The test is painless and the protocol to ensure that it is successful is easy to follow.

Generally, after an initial consultation with a doctor or urologist the Pad Test is ordered and basic directions are given. In most cases, the test is ordered for the 24 hour period before the next office visit. The rules for men and women are the same and it is important to follow the guidelines because the results obtained will allow a doctor to better plan a course of treatment for the level of incontinence.

Performing a Pad Test

The first step in testing is saving each and every incontinence product used during a full 24 hours. This may mean keeping pantiliners, incontinence bed pads, absorbent briefs, and any other materials that may have collected urine including bed pads.

Each item is sealed in a plastic storage bag (gallon food storage bags work well) and labeled with the date and time it was used. A tight seal is important because it prevents evaporation and ensures a more accurate test.

The collection of used products is then brought to the scheduled appointment and each item is weighed and compared to the dry weight of each product. The difference is the amount of urine leaked and will be used to diagnose and formulate a treatment plan. It is very important that one dry, unused sample of each type of incontinence product used is also brought to the visit for comparative purposes. In some cases, the doctor will order specific briefs or adult diapers to be used for the test because they have dry weight records on file.

The Pad Test is a great way to gain a new insight into a patient's bladder weakness without performing a potentially painful, invasive procedure like collection with an indwelling straight catheter or the fuss of an external catheter in the case that the patient is a man. The benefits are accurate results, ease of performance, and the low cost.