Online Learning to Improve Nurses' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Self-Efficacy About Managing Postoperative Pain in Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Older adults undergoing total knee arthroplasty may develop chronic pain without effective postoperative pain management. Increasing nurses' knowledge, changing their attitudes, and developing their pain management self-efficacy could improve the effectiveness of pain management. AIM: To determine the effectiveness of an online learning program to help registered nurses to manage postoperative pain in older adults undergoing total knee arthroplasty. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with intervention and control groups. METHOD: Six inpatient units were randomly selected at a large tertiary care medical center. Sixty nurses were evenly divided between intervention and control groups to participate in online learning about postoperative pain management in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. The content was based on Kolb's experiential learning theory. Data were collected on nurses' knowledge and attitudes toward pain management and pain management self-efficacy at baseline and after completion. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, paired t-tests, and independent t-tests. RESULTS: The knowledge and attitudes about pain management and pain management self-efficacy toward older adults undergoing total knee arthroplasty of nurses in the intervention group significantly improved compared to the baseline and were also significantly higher than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: An online learning program improves nurses' understanding and ability to manage pain in older adults undergoing total knee arthroplasty. This was therefore an effective learning method.

Effects of clinical nursing pathway on the surgical site wound infection in patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery: A meta-analysis.

To explore the effect of clinical nursing pathway on wound infection in patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery. Computerised searches of PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, Wanfang, China Biomedical Literature Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases were conducted, from database inception to September 2023, on the randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of application of clinical nursing pathway to patients undergoing knee and hip arthroplasty. Literature was screened and evaluated by two researchers based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, and data were extracted from the final included literature. RevMan 5.4 software was employed for data analysis. Overall, 48 RCTs involving 4139 surgical patients were included, including 2072 and 2067 in the clinical nursing pathway and routine nursing groups, respectively. The results revealed, compared with routine nursing, the use of clinical nursing pathways was effective in reducing the rate of complications (OR = 0.17, 95%CI: 0.14-0.21, p < 0.001) and wound infections (OR = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.16-0.51, p < 0.001), shortens the hospital length of stay (MD = -4.11, 95%CI: -5.40 to -2.83, p < 0.001) and improves wound pain (MD = -1.34, 95%CI: -1.98 to -0.70, p < 0.001); it also improve patient satisfaction (OR = 7.13, 95%CI: 4.69-10.85, p < 0.001). The implementation of clinical nursing pathways in clinical care after knee or hip arthroplasty can effectively reduce the incidence of complications and wound infections, and also improve the wound pain, while also improving treatment satisfaction so that patients can be discharged from the hospital as soon as possible.

A Nurse-Led App-Based Home Exercise Program After Total Knee Arthroplasty: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

PURPOSE: Reduced activity because of pain is a major health issue associated with total knee arthroplasty. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a nurse-led app-based home exercise program for patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty. METHODS: A nonequivalent control group of pretest-posttest design was used. Data from 45 patients were collected. The control group received individualized face-to-face exercise education, whereas the experimental group received training on the use of app-based home exercise education, including exercise videos and app push notifications to encourage exercise after discharge. Pain, range of motion, exercise self-efficacy, and quality of life were measured at baseline and 3 and 12 weeks after surgery. Nursing care satisfaction was evaluated 12 weeks after surgery. RESULTS: There were significant overall reductions in pain intensity ( p = .001), improvements in limited range of motion ( p < .001), and increases in exercise self-efficacy ( p = .034) and quality of life ( p = .033) in the experimental group ( n = 22) compared with those in the control group ( n = 23). Nursing care satisfaction was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group ( p < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Rehabilitation nurses can offer app-based home exercise education with push notifications to alleviate pain, enhance range of motion, improve exercise self-efficacy, and increase nursing care satisfaction for patients who have had a knee arthroplasty.