With the increasing aging population, it is projected by the U.S. Census Bureau that by the year 2030, the population over age 65 will double to more than 70 million in the U.S. alone, and more than one billion worldwide. It is estimated that approximately one-third of women will experience at least one disorder of the pelvic floor in her lifetime.
With this in mind, Women & Infants Hospital has teamed up with practitioners across the state to create the Rhode Island Network for Pelvic Floor Disorders at Women & Infants Hospital. The Network was created to provide state-of-the-art diagnosis and therapy for women with pelvic floor disorders through comprehensive clinical care and organizational oversight.
"Improved patient outcomes are an expected result from a dedicated network," said Deborah L. Myers, MD, director of the Rhode Island Network for Pelvic Floor Disorders at Women & Infants Hospital, director of Women & Infants' Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery and the Program in Women's Physical Therapy, and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. "Currently there are measures estimating outcomes and patient satisfaction in other medical areas which endorse the concept of forming centers of excellence and consolidation of specialties of practice. This is exactly what our Network endeavors to do."
Pelvic floor disorders are an issue of growing importance, from both an individual and public health point of view. Pelvic floor disorders (PFDs) include urinary incontinence (UI), fecal/anal incontinence (AI), and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Other related symptoms and conditions which frequently accompany PFDs are sensory and emptying abnormalities of the lower urinary tract and bowel, pelvic and abdominal pain, musculoskeletal dysfunction of the pelvic muscles/ligaments, and constipation and diarrheal states.
In addition to pelvic floor disorders, gastrointestinal disorders are very common in women and exacerbate PFDs. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a multi-factorial gastrointestinal condition, and constipation, one of the most common gastrointestinal complaints, are often concurrent with PFDs.
Partners in the Rhode Island Network for Pelvic Floor Disorders at Women & Infants Hospital is a collaborative program between the Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, the Center for Women's Gastrointestinal Services, the Program in Women's Physical Therapy, and Nutrition Services at Women & Infants Hospital; the Colorectal Care Center and the Division of Urology at Rhode Island Hospital; the Rhode Island Colorectal Clinic; and the Departments of Diagnostic Imaging at Rhode Island and Women & Infants hospitals.
For information about the Rhode Island Network for Pelvic Floor Disorders at Women & Infants Hospital, please call (401) 453-7560, extension 124.
About Women & Infants Hospital
Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, is one of the nation's leading specialty hospitals for women and newborns. The primary teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University for obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics, Women & Infants is the seventh largest obstetrical service in the country with more than 9,000 deliveries per year. In 2009, Women & Infants opened the country's largest, single-family room neonatal intensive care unit.
Women & Infants has been designated as a Breast Center of Excellence from the American College of Radiography; a Center for In Vitro Maturation Excellence by SAGE In Vitro Fertilization; a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence by the National Institutes of Health; and a Neonatal Resource Services Center of Excellence. It is one of the largest and most prestigious research facilities in high risk and normal obstetrics, gynecology and newborn pediatrics in the nation, and is a member of the National Cancer Institute's Gynecologic Oncology Group. The hospital was named Rhode Island's Best Place to Work by Providence Business News and a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health by the federal government. For information about Women & Infants, log on to womenandinfants.org, and for the name of a physician on the Women & Infants' staff, call the Health Line at 1-800-921-9299.