In this special episode of WOCTalk, we kick off Season 5 of the Ostomy Observations series with Tara Beuscher and Amanda Eltz, tackle the clinical challenges of managing high-output ileostomies to prevent hospital readmissions. Learn practical strategies for moving beyond basic advice like telling patients to simply “drink more water”, like balancing a patient’s fluid intake, making smart medication adjustments, and getting reliable pouch seals to protect their skin.
Whether you are a WOC nurse, Advanced Practice Provider, surgeon, or home health professional, this episode delivers essential tools and workflows to help you stabilize your ostomy patients and keep them safely recovering at home.
This podcast is part of the Ostomy Observations Series, a 6-part series included in the “Educating Today for Exceptional Outcomes Tomorrow” Program. Both the Ostomy Observations podcast series and the Educating Today for Exceptional Outcomes Tomorrow Program are commercially supported through an educational grant from Hollister Incorporated. For more information, visit wocn.org/exceptionaloutcomes. The WOCN® Society does not endorse or support products or services.
Resources:
Reducing Ileostomy Postoperative Complications Due to Dehydration: A Quality Improvement Project – JWOCN May/June 2026
Redefining the High-Output Stoma and Its Bearing on Clinical Practice Results of an International Consensus Panel – JWOCN September/October 2025
High-output stoma management: an overview – BJS September 2025
About the Speakers:
Tara Beuscher, DNP, RN, ANP-BC, CWOCN, CFCN, NPD-BC, WOCNF, is certified in Wound, Ostomy, and Continence care and is an Adult Nurse Practitioner. She has an ostomy and wound care clinic practice at the Duke Cancer Center in Durham, North Carolina, where she sees individuals with fecal and urinary diversions for any diagnosis as well as malignant wounds. Dr. Beuscher has worked in a variety of settings including acute, long term acute, home, ambulatory and community settings. Dr. Beuscher also teaches ostomy care to first year medical students and surgical residents. Duke is the first medical school in the country to incorporate ostomy care within the formal curriculum. This model curriculum was featured at the American College of Surgeons Surgical Simulation Summit in March 2026.
Amanda Eltz, DNP, FNP-C, CWOCN, works as a nurse practitioner with the Duke Colorectal division. Prior to this, she served as a Wound, Ostomy, and Continence nurse for 8 years. Her career has mainly focused on the care of ostomy patients, running an outpatient ostomy clinic before moving into her APP role. Her DNP quality improvement project focused on dehydration in the ileostomy patient and was instrumental in improving patient postoperative outcomes in her current role. She has authored and co-authored wound and ostomy related manuscripts. Her favorite pastime is spending time with her granddaughters.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant.
