Effect of Home Care After Cardiac Surgery

OBJECTIVES: Home care that maintains continuity of health care services after cardiac surgery is considered a complementary component of clinical care. We estimated that effective home care given with a multidisciplinary approach would contribute to decreasing symptoms and readmissions to the hospital after cardiac surgery.STUDY DESIGN: This experimental study with a 6-week follow-up period and a 2-group repeated measures design with pretest, posttest, and interval tests was conducted in a public hospital in Turkey in 2016.METHODS: We identified the self-efficacy levels, symptoms, and readmissions to the hospital of 60 patients (30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group) throughout the data collection process, and we estimated the effect of home care on self-efficacy, symptom management, and hospital readmissions by comparing the data of patients in the experimental and control groups. Each patient in the experimental group received 7 home visits along with 24/7 telephone counseling services throughout the first 6 weeks after discharge, and patients were provided physical care, training, and counseling services during these home visits with the collaboration of their physician.RESULTS: Home care resulted in better self-efficacy and fewer symptoms in the experimental group (P < .05), and it also reduced readmissions to the hospital in the experimental group (23.3%) compared with the control group (46.7%).CONCLUSIONS: This study's findings suggest that home care, with a focus on continuity of care, decreases symptoms and readmissions to the hospital and improves the self-efficacy of patients after cardiac surgery.