Effects of telephone follow up in discharged patients with urinary stoma

Abstract

Objective To explore effects of telephone follow up in self-care ability, anxiety levels and complications of discharged patients with urinary stoma. Methods A total of 76 cases with urinary stoma in our department from October 2014 to April 2015 were included using purpose sampling method and randomly divided into control group and intervention group. Patients in control group received routine nursing, while patients in intervention group were telephone followed up at one week, one month and three months post discharge. Self-care ability, anxiety levels and complications of patients before and three months post discharge were compared between two groups. Results At three months post discharge, self-care ability of patients in both groups were significant better than before discharge (t=5.893, 2.764; P<0.05) . Self-care ability of patients in intervention group was better than patients in control group, with statistically significant difference (t=6.982, P<0.05) . At 3 months post discharge, anxiety levels of patients in intervention group were lower than before discharge, while anxiety levels of patients in control group were higher than before discharge. The differences were statistically significant (t=3.562, 2.764; P<0.05) . Anxiety levels of patients in intervention group were significantly lower than patients in control group (t=4.536, P<0.05) . In intervention group, two cases were found partial skin redness, which was recovered after telephone guidance of nurses. In control group, two cases had urinary tract infection. Conclusions Telephone follow up improves self-care ability, decreases anxiety levels and prevents complications of patients with urinary stoma. Key words: Self care; Anxiety; Telephone follow up; Urinary stoma