Caring for spinal surgery recipients to prevent wound infection: Results of a situational study of a hospital in Nong Khai Province

Abstract

This article presented the research results as part of the participatory action research (PAR) on the developing of guidelines for preventing of wound infection after spinal surgery. It described the findings of situational study phase on caring for spinal surgery recipients in preventing of spinal surgical wound infection. The participants consisted of 15 spinal surgery recipients, 15 caregivers, and 15 multidisciplinary staffs. The research tools included the guideline for an in-depth interview; and the guideline for participants, and non- participant observation. The data were collected during February - August 2022. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis.

The results revealed that the situation of caring for spinal surgery recipients was divided into three parts: 1) self-care management, 2) caregiver care, and 3) multidisciplinary care. Moreover, the study reveals three problems for spinal surgery recipients’ care as follows: 1) the spinal surgery recipients lacked of knowledge about spinal cord disease, spinal surgery, and spinal surgical wound care, and self-care after returning home; 2) caregivers lacked knowledge about spinal cord disease, spinal surgery, and spinal surgical wound care, and caring after patient returning home; and 3) lacked of follow-up guidelines for caring of spinal surgery recipients and continuous follow-up of treatment outcomes. In addition, caregivers still have inappropriate care management. The study results lead to further development of a guideline for the prevention of wound infection after spinal surgery, in order for spinal surgery recipients to receive continual care from admission until discharge, and have follow up on the treatment results 2 weeks after the surgery, which will be beneficial to patient recovery and ability to take care of themselves.