title: The effect of continuing care on patient's quality-of-life after disc surgery in neurosurgery and very important person wards.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Today, lumbar herniation discs, a prevalent problem with a sign of lumbar and feet pain in society. Removal of disk by surgery decrease pain but reduce quality-of-life (QOL). In some cases, lake of following and caring of patient after surgery, herniation disc recurrent. Previous studies show that patient education and followings is important, therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of continuing care on patient QOL after disc surgery in neurosurgery and very important person (VIP) ward in Al-Zahra Hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study is a clinical trial conducted on 64 patients hospitalized in the neurosurgery and VIP wards of Al-Zahra Hospital, in Isfahan, Iran, in 2013. The patients were selected by simple sampling method and were randomly assigned to two groups (study and control). Patients' response to short form-36 questionnaire before and 4 weeks and 3 months after continuing care in study group, and simultaneously, in the control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant difference in mean of physical and psychological dimensions before and 4 weeks and 3 months after intervention in study group (P < 0.05), but in control group, the difference was not significant (P = 0.8). Pairwise comparison of mean physical and psychological dimensions at different time points by Fisher's least significant difference showed that there was a significant difference in the intervention group (P < 0.022). But in the control group, there was no significant difference between pairs of time points (P > 0.18).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Continuing care improves dimensions of patients' QOL, and it is recommended as a nursing and nonmedical intervention in disc surgery patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Nursing, Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Nasrollah
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alimohammadi
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgery Ward, Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Manijeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eslami
authors.affiliation: Department of Adult Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Hojatollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yousefi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Homayoon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tabesh
keywords: Continuing care; lumbar disc surgery; nursing; quality of life