Effect of tele-nursing on the quality of life, adherence to the medication regimen, and readmission rate in hypertensive patients: A quasi-experimental study

The present study aimed to determine the effect of tele-nursing on quality of life, adherence to the medication regimen, and readmission rate in patients with high blood pressure referred to health centers in Dezful City, Iran. The present quasi-experimental study was conducted on 96 patients diagnosed with high blood pressure in the health and treatment centers in Dezful City, Iran. The samples were divided into control and intervention groups, each with 48 samples. Patients were under nurse follow-up counseling by phone for 12 weeks. Demographic characteristics, the 36-Item Short Form quality of life questionnaire, and the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) were used for data gathering. The mean age of the participants in the study was 68.19 (standard deviation [SD]=3.40) years. 62% of the participants were female, and 50% had experienced hospitalization due to high blood pressure. After four weeks of intervention, the mean blood pressure in the control group increased to 173/107 mmHg, while it decreased to 136/96 mmHg in the intervention group (P<0.001). In the intervention group, the mean quality of life score before the intervention was 70.34 (SD=19.72) and after the intervention was 83.01 (SD=15.43), which was a statistically significant increase (P<0.001). In the intervention group, the mean score of adherence to the medication regimen increased from 5.56 (SD=1.39) before the intervention to 7.10 (SD=1.59) at the end of the study, which was statistically significant (P<0.001). After three months, the number of patients readmitted in the control group was 38 (79.17%), while in the intervention group, only 4 (8.33%) needed readmission (P<0.001). In addition to education, patients with chronic diseases need regular and continuous follow-up, as revealed by the results. Nursing from a distance or telephone follow-up (tele-nursing) is a suitable, cost-effective tool to activate patients and their family members in the care process.