Impact of continuing nursing care on anticoagulation therapy after heart valve replacement

Abstract

Objective To explore the continuing nursing care effect on anticoagulation therapy after heart valve replacement patients. Methods A total of 153 patients after heart valve replacement between September 2012 to August 2013 were randomly divided into the control group (77 cases) and intervention group (76 cases) by convenient drawing method. All patients in two groups during hospitalization received regular hospital health education and discharge education, and the patients of control group complete the telephone follow-up in 1 week after discharge, while the patients of intervention group received telephone follow-up ward visit, lectures for group and individual explanation at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year after discharge. 1 year later, the evaluation of patients′ medical compliance and anticoagulation effect were carried out between two groups. Results 1 year later, the recognition of anticoagulation therapy among intervention group patients obtained 89.04%, part of recognition 9.59%, far from recognition 1.37%, better than 70.27%, 20.27%, 9.46% of the control group (χ2=8.847, P=0.012); the complete, part and none medication compliance of intervention group were 97.26%, 1.37% and 1.37 better than 86.49%, 10.81%, 2.70% of the control group; return visit on time was 97.26% in the intervention group while 87.84% in the control group (χ2=6.134, 4.713; P<0.05); 87.67% patients achieved INR standard in the intervention group comparing with 70.27% in the control group, the complication of anticoagulant therapy dramatically decreased to 6.85%, lower than 18.92% of the control group (χ2=6.686, 4.757; P<0.05). Conclusions Continuing nursing care can improve patient′s cognition and medication compliance of the anticoagulation therapy after heart valve replacement, improve the INR success rate, and reduce the anticoagulant therapy related complications. Key words: Heart valve replacement; Continuing nursing care; Anticoagulant therapy