Effects of a Nurse-Led Telehealth Aftercare Program on Pain and Physical Role Functioning of Adult Burn Survivors: A...

Burn-related pain remains a significant global health issue that is often challenging to manage. It becomes more complex once a patient with burns is discharged but is unable to return to use available medical review services because of long travel distances and/or financial constraints. Poorly managed pain can adversely impact on the burn survivor's physical performance capacity, leading to poor recovery outcomes. In response to these critical gaps, this study examined the effects of a nurse-led telehealth aftercare program on pain and physical role functioning outcomes of adult burn survivors.

A randomized controlled trial approach was used.

Sixty adult burn survivors were assigned randomly to intervention and control groups. Adult burn survivors in the intervention arm received the telehealth program via WeChat for 8 weeks. To ascertain the sustained effects of the intervention, a 4-week period was included. Data were obtained at three time points: baseline (T0), postintervention (T1), and follow-up (T2). The generalized estimating equation was used as the main statistical analytical test with a Bonferroni corrected p value of .017.

The participants included 48 men and 12 women with a mean age of 37.88 years. Pain intensity demonstrated time and group effects, but not interaction effects, at T1 and T2. Pain interference showed a statistically significant interaction effect at T2 only. Physical role functioning showed improvement at both T1 and T2.

This study provides evidence regarding the impact of aftercare support and the possibility of delivering such innovative programs via telehealth. Further work is warranted to integrate aftercare support in the burn-management process.

Considering the long-standing nature of post-burn sequelae, ongoing aftercare support is crucial to supporting burn survivors on their recovery journey. Delivering aftercare support via telehealth is possible and potentially safe.