Effects of continuous nursing care on postoperative urinary incontinence in patients with prostate cancer

Objective To explore the effects of continuous nursing on postoperative urinary incontinence in patients with prostate cancer, so as to provide clinical evidence to improve the quality of postoperative and extended nursing care. Methods A total of 120 patients with prostate cancer underwent radical prostatectomy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 2016 to January 2017, who met the inclusion criteria were recruited in the research. The patients were randomly divided into experimental group and control group by sortition randomization method, with 60 cases in each. The patients in control group were given routine discharge health education, and the experimental group received continuous nursing on the basis of routine discharge nursing. Three months after discharge, the incidence, duration, frequency and quantity of urinary incontinence in the two groups were recorded by the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICI-Q-SF) . A self-designed prostate cancer postoperative-related knowledge questionnaire, which evaluated the patients understanding prostate cancer care, was completed by the patients of the two groups. A self-designed satisfaction questionnaire was used to evaluate and compare the satisfaction of the two groups of patients to the quality of nursing. Results The incidence rate and the duration of postoperative urinary continence in the experimental group [16.7%, (4.1±2.8) d] were significantly lower than those in the control group (χ2=9.076, t=-2.630; P<0.05) . After 3 months of discharge, the score of related knowledge and the satisfaction of nursing work in the experimental group were both higher than those of the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05) . Conclusions Continuous nursing care for discharged patients after prostatectomy can enhance patients' knowledge of disease, effectively reduce the incidence of postoperative incontinence, reduce urinary incontinence duration, and improve patients' satisfaction with nursing quality. Key words: Prostatic neoplasms; Urinary incontinence; Postoperative complications; Health education; Continuous nursing care