Effectiveness of nursing intervention, telephone follow-up, postoperative elderly: a controlled clinical trial

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention telephone follow-up compared with conventional treatment in elderly patients after cholecystectomy and hernia surgery and to analyze the evolution of nursing diagnosis Delayed Surgical Recovery (DSR) over four weeks, in the groups involved. METHODOLOGY: This was a randomized controlled trial with a quantitative approach, performed in two teaching hospitals in Rio de Janeiro. The sample consisted of 43 patients followed for 4 weeks. For randomization of the sample was used the program Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and as a nursing intervention, the follow-up by phone for patients in the experimental group. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, under protocol number 327/2010 and CAAE: CAAE: 09911212.0.0000.5243. Data collection was carried out over six months by the research nurse and five examiners who were trained for the diagnois. RESULTS: No significant difference at 5% level, in the social and demographic variables, between the two treatment groups, was found. We observed a significant decrease of the first assessment to last assessment for the defining characteristic "loss of appetite with nausea" in the experimental group (p = 0.013). Between the first and last assessment the defining characteristic "need help to complete self-care" in the control group tended to decrease (p = 0.041). Factors related to significant falls in the "pain" in the experimental group (p = 0.041) as well as "feeling after surgery" (p = 0.023). CONCLUSION: There was a low prevalence of the diagnosis of DSR in groups for the surgeries studied. Although there was no statistical difference between the groups, there was a greater tendency to fall in the experimental group. Telephone follow-up is a low-cost resource, accessible by most of the population, with high rates of adherence and may be used for health care in public health system. During the telephone contact were the main questions regarding the use of medications, and the power to wound. Studies with larger samples are needed so that one can say that there are statistical superiority regarding the incidence of Delayed Surgical Recovery when compared to conventional treatment.