Case study: Educating a blind person with an ileostomy: Enabling self-care and independence

The purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly to review the limited literature available to guide the stomal therapy nurse (STN) in the provision of ostomy education to patients with a visual impairment. Secondly, it presents a case study outlining how the ideas gained from the literature were used to assist a legally blind patient to achieve independence with caring for his ileostomy. Providing ostomy education to this elderly patient posed considerable challenges for the STNs and was a slow and arduous process.