Research progress on continuous nursing care for children after radical surgery for Hirschsprung's disease

Hirschsprung's disease is a common congenital gastrointestinal malformation in children, for which radical surgery remains the primary treatment modality. Postoperatively, patients are prone to complications such as Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis, defecation dysfunction, anal stenosis, and psychological or behavioral abnormalities, all of which significantly impair growth, development, and quality of life. As a critical bridge linking inpatient treatment with home-based rehabilitation, continuous nursing care has demonstrated efficacy in enhancing post-discharge outcomes, reducing complication risks, and improving long-term prognosis. This review systematically synthesizes the extant literature concerning continuity of care following radical surgery for pediatric Hirschsprung disease, both domestically and internationally. It delineates the core constructs, clinical significance, prevailing care models, key intervention strategies, and outcome evaluation frameworks within this domain, while concurrently summarizing current research deficiencies and projecting future developmental trajectories. The paper critically appraises recent advances in novel modalities-specifically informatized smart nursing, individualized precision care, and multidisciplinary collaborative care-and consolidates optimization outcomes related to core interventions, including bowel rehabilitation, complication surveillance, empowerment of family caregivers, and psychosocial support. Addressing identified gaps, this review proposes strategic directions encompassing the establishment of standardized nursing protocols, deeper integration of intelligent technologies, implementation of long-term prognostic surveillance, and deployment of precision interventions for high-risk pediatric subgroups. Notably, parental educational level is identified as a critical confounding variable exerting significant influence on home-care quality and rehabilitation efficacy; consequently, subsequent investigations should incorporate this metric into stratified analyses and nursing quality control systems. This synthesis aims to provide an evidence-based foundation for the standardized implementation of postoperative continuity of care and the optimization of rehabilitation management pathways, thereby propelling the evolution of pediatric surgical nursing toward enhanced standardization, precision, and intelligence.