Background: Continuous nursing care (CNC) is an extended service based on meeting the needs of discharged patients for post-discharge treatment and rehabilitation. This research aimed to investigate the effects of CNC on older patients with total hip arthroplasty and to offer a scientific basis for improving the prognosis.
Methods: A total of 134 patients with total hip arthroplasty were randomly divided into the control group (n = 67) and the intervention group (n = 67). The control group was treated by conventional nursing care and the intervention group was treated by CNC. Harris hip score, Barthel index, the activities of daily living (ADL) scale, self-rating depression scale (SDS) and self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) in these two groups were evaluated. Demographic characteristics between groups were analyzed by unpaired t test. The observation indexes between groups were assessed by two-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey's multiple comparisons test.
Results: The scores of Harris hip score, Barthel index, ADL, SDS and SAS in the intervention group after intervention and after follow-up were better than the intervention group before intervention (all p < 0.01). Meanwhile, the scores of Harris hip score, Barthel index, ADL, SDS and SAS in the intervention group were better than the control group both after intervention and after follow-up (all p < 0.01).
Conclusion: In conclusion, CNC showed better efficacy than conventional nursing care in promoting hip joint function recovery, improving quality of life and alleviating anxiety and depression for older patients with total hip arthroplasty.
Keywords: Anxiety; Continuous nursing care; Depression; Quality of life; Total hip arthroplasty.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.