The Effect of Preoperative Video-assisted Patient Education on Postoperative Activities of Daily Living and Quality of Life in Patients with Femoral Fracture

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of study was to determine the effect of preoperative education on the postoperative activities of daily living and quality of life (QoL) of patients with trochanteric femoral fracture (TFF) treated with internal fixation. Materials and methods: The patients were included those treated for TFF at an orthopaedic clinic in western Turkey between March and July 2014 in this randomised controlled study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Ethics Committee of our university. The 56 patients were randomly divided into two groups. The intervention group was included in a preoperative education programme which is consisting of video-assisted oral presentation and education booklet, 1 day before surgery. At the end of education, one each sample of booklet and video were given to patients. The control group was informed with only routine clinical information by nurses. Data were collected using patient information form, Barthel Index (BI), Harris Hip Score (HHS) and Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Descriptive statistics, Student’s t-test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and a chi-square test were used to evaluate the data. Results: Age, sex, educational level and length of hospital stay were similar in both groups (p>0.05). Total HHS, BI, and SF-36 scores at 1 and 3 months postoperatively were higher the intervention group than the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Video-assisted preoperative education improves QoL and activities of daily living, in patients with TFF treated by nailing. An education programme like this could be useful for all surgical clinics.