Experience in perioperative nursing of patients with pituitary adenoma who were treated via transsphenoidal tumor resection in standardized clinical pathway

Objective To review and summarize our experiences in nursing of patients with pituitary adenoma who were treated via transsphenoidal resection and subordinated to a standardized clinical pathway. Methods From January 2011 to June 2012, a series of 62 consecutive cases that undergone transsphenoidal resection were enrolled and retrospectively analyzed. Patients were randomly distributed to either clinical pathway group in which a standardized clinical pathway was assigned, or control group in which normal nursing services were offered. Hospitalization days, costs, satisfaction with medical workers and the knowledge of health education were compared between the two groups. Results The average hospitalized days of clinical pathway group were (12.41±1.12)d and the costs of clinical pathway group were (24 568±158) yuan, which were (14.56±1.56)d and (27 431±287) yuan in control group respectively, and the differences were statically significant (t=6.25, 48.65, respectively; P<0.01). The understanding degree to health education knowledge and the satisfaction with nurses of the clinical pathway group were 48.4% and 83.9%, which better than 19.3% and 54.8% in the control group (P<0.05). Conclusions The clinical pathway could increase the understanding degree to health education knowledge and the satisfaction with nurses of patients with pituitary adenoma who are treated via transsphenoidal resection, and guarante the quality of medical and nursing care. Key words: Clinical pathway; Pituitary tumor; Perioperative nursing