Paper
Friday, 21 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Community Health Collaboration and Models
A Theoretical Model of Empowering Orthopedic Hip Replacement Patients with Patient Education and Support at Home
Tiina T. H. Nurmela, PhD, Health Care Education, Turku Polytechnic, Turku, Finland
Learning Objective #1: obtain a new vision about orthoedic patients nursing in health care
Learning Objective #2: find new ways to meet the surgical patients need for care.
A growing number of people in Finland suffer from generative arthritis on their hip or knee. The queues for orthopedic operations, especially hip replacements, are long, and the times, related to operations in hospital, are getting shorter. At the same time, municipalities being responsible for the health care, lack rehabilitation placements and financial resources.
The object of this theoretical part of research is to develop a model for hip replacement patient’s care. This model is expected to meet the requirements of patient empowering, patient safety, continuity of the care at home and economical effectiveness. Furthermore, the model should be directly applicable to practice. This study is based on international, national and local research, and the experience of orthopaedic nurses.
Nurses mission is to answer health care needs pertaining to people’s human existence
and well-being by the means of nursing. The challenge is to create new ways to help the patients to manage at home. In the created model, nurses respond to the patient’s needs of knowledge and help. The first phase is when the patient is waiting for the call to hospital. A nurse, specialized in hip replacement patients’ care, teaches the patient at her/his home to prepare herself to the treatment, and organize the home to quick return after the operation. Secondly, the patient pay a preparative visit to hospital two weeks before the operation to obtain information about the immediate preparation. During the stay in hospital (3-6 days) the community nurse make an appointment with the patient at home, to encourage, the patient to return back to home.
The developed model rely on the co-operation between nurses, crossing the community and hospital borderlines. Patient teaching and practical advice empower the client to cope at home sooner. Next this model will be applied to practice to be tested.

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)