Effects of enterostomal nurse telephone follow-up on postoperative adjustment of discharged colostomy patients.
BACKGROUND
People with a new colostomy encounter many difficulties as they struggle to adjust to their ostomies. Nurse telephone follow-up is a convenient way to ensure continuity of care. There is a paucity of studies testing if nurse telephone follow-up can enhance adjustment of postdischarged colostomy patients.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of enterostomal nurse telephone follow-up on the adjustment levels of discharged colostomy patients.


METHODS
This was a randomized controlled trial. Participants (n = 103) who had undergone colostomy operations in China were recruited and randomly assigned to the study or control group. Both the study and control groups received routine discharge care, whereas the study group received 2-3 nurse telephone calls in the follow-up period. The outcome measures included Ostomy Adjustment Scale, Stoma Self-efficacy Scale, satisfaction with care, and stoma complications.


RESULTS
Results of this study indicated that participants in the study group had significantly better ostomy adjustment, higher stoma self-efficacy, higher satisfaction with care, and less stoma complications compared with those in the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provided evidence to support that enterostomal nurse telephone follow-up can improve patient ostomy adjustment level and other related outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Nurse telephone follow-up is an effective intervention to support the adjustment of stoma patients after hospital discharge.
Author Affiliations: School of Nursing (Dr Zhang and Ms You), Cancer Center (Ms M-C Zheng), Third Affiliated Hospital (Ms B-Y Zhang), First Affiliated Hospital (Ms Huang), Sixth Affiliated Hospital (Ms Ye), and Second Affiliated Hospital (Ms Liang), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou; School of Nursing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, (Dr Wong); Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangzhou (Ms Li); and Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University (Ms Liu), China.
Jun-e
JE
Zhang
Frances Kam Yuet
FK
Wong
Li-ming
LM
You
Mei-chun
MC
Zheng
Qiong
Q
Li
Bing-yan
BY
Zhang
Man-rong
MR
Huang
Xin-Mei
XM
Ye
Ming-juan
MJ
Liang
Jin-ling
JL
Liu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D003125:Colostomy / Q000451:nursing*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011184:Postoperative Period; D012648:Self Care; D013689:Telephone