Nursing care patterns for patients receiving total hip replacements

Successful recovery from total hip replacement requires not only proper surgical technique but also appropriate nursing care during the immediate recovery period.

The study focused on (1) describing nursing interventions for inpatients who underwent total hip replacement; (2) depicting the patterns of nursing interventions over the hospital stay; and (3) examining relationships among patient characteristics, nursing interventions, and complication rates.

With retrospective data, the types, numbers, and time required for nursing interventions were identified by descriptive statistics. Using a cross-tabulation table and a graph, the patterns of nursing interventions were depicted by day. A correlation analysis was conducted to examine relationships among variables.

On the first day of admission, the 5 most frequent nursing interventions were intravascular administration, care plan, orthotics management, teaching/emotional support, and elimination care. However, when frequencies and time required for nursing interventions were considered together, the rank order was different. Furthermore, complications had significant relationships with age, comorbidity, severity of illness, length of stay, and some nursing interventions at the significant level (p ≤ .05).

The description and review of nursing interventions being provided in a hospital are necessary to delineate nursing work and improve nursing practice. The significant relationships among nursing interventions, comorbidities, and complications found in this study suggest that nurses should consider comorbidities in their care planning, monitoring, and documenting of nursing interventions and outcomes along with the onset of complications.