TEACHING OF PATIENTS UNDERGOING TOTAL HIP-REPLACEMENT SURGERY

We studied the effect of patient teaching in 60 patients who underwent primary total hip replacement surgery. All the patients received an i llustrated patient guide. In addition to the general patient teaching given by doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, a randomly chosen group of 27 patients received a session of intensified patient teaching. At the follow-up, 2-3 months postoperatively, 61% of patients thought th at they had received the main part of their information from the physi otherapists, 9% from their doctors and 4% from the nursing staff. The importance of a well-illustrated guide was pointed out. The knowledge of potential complications, such as infection, remained poor; 37% coul d not name one single relevant complication. At the follow-up, the you nger or better educated patients did not score any better. The experim ental group who had received intensified teaching differed only slight ly from the controls, but they knew significantly better when to infor m their doctor of potential complications. Also, the experimental grou p showed greater interest in obtaining more information about their re placed hip. Patients in the experimental group showed significantly be tter adherence to the instructions for the postoperative rehabilitatio n programme. Our results showed that the experimental group was clearl y motivated, and to a certain degree followed the rehabilitation instr uctions more clearly. Doctors and nurses should have more well-illustr ated educational material available on total hip replacement, and use this material for individual patients. Admission to the hip service sh ould include an individual teaching session.