Nursing Care Efficacy Concerning the Rehabilitation of Patients with Cerebrovascular Disease

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebrovascular disease is one of the commonest causes of death and represents an important public health concern. Individual consequences are substantial, a reason why many affected patients require nursing care.

Objective: To assess nursing care efficacy concerning the rehabilitation of patients with cerebrovascular disease.

Methods: Quasiexperimental study, with pre- and post-test, carried out in the private ambulatory rehabilitation center of Santa Elena, Ecuador, during 2019. The universe was made up of 75 patients attending the rehabilitation center, out of 151 patients discharged from the General Hospital with a diagnosis of cerebrovascular disease. The general and clinical characteristics of the disease and the length of rehabilitation were assessed. The Utrecht scale and descriptive statistics, chi-square, were used for comparisons between sexes, location and type of disease. The differences were considered statistically significant with P≤0.05.

Results: The average age was 60.3±9.8 years. Most of the patients were male (68%), with location of cerebrovascular disease on the left side (46.6%) and of ischemic type (65.3%). It was observed that functional independence, mobility and self-care presented significant differences when comparing the values at the end of the interventions with the initial values (P<0.05). A significant increase in cognitive function, fatigue and mood was also observed, with changes in the scores (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Nursing cares are effective in the rehabilitation of patients with cerebrovascular disease.