Preoperative Home Care Can Be One of the Factors Affecting the Length of Hospital Stay in Patients Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the importance of home nursing care on the functional outcome, quality of life, and length of stay of patients who underwent total hip arthroplasty. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study including patients who underwent surgery from February 2011 to December 2016. Patients were analyzed in two groups: with home care (received nursing care) and without home care. The analyzed outcomes were quality of life, functional outcome, and length of hospital stay. Total follow-up with questionnaires was 24 months. Results: A total of 244 patients (143 with home care and 101 without home care) were analyzed. No significant differences were found regarding the mean age (p = 0.125), gender distribution (p = 0.449) and BMI (p = 0.548) between the two groups. There was also no significant difference regarding functional outcome (p = 0.107) and quality of life (p = 0.848), measured by validated tools. However, the median of length of hospital stays in the home care group was lower in 1 day compared to without home care group (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The home nursing care did not influence the functional outcome or quality of life of the patients, but there was a decrease in the length of hospital stay in the group that received preoperative nursing care.