Effects of discharge education program on recovery and quality of life after cardiac surgery: a 12 week follow-up single-blind randomized controlled trial

AIMS: In the contemporary era of rapid societal and technological advancement, factors such as sedentary lifestyles, environmental pollution, unhealthy dietary habits, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, tobacco and alcohol use, and the growing prevalence of comorbid conditions associated with these risk factors have contributed to cardiovascular diseases becoming one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Among the therapeutic interventions for cardiovascular diseases, open-heart surgery remains one of the principal treatment modalities, as it is associated with superior symptom control, enhanced quality of life, and improved long-term survival outcomes compared with medical management alone. Beside the surgical intervention one of the main components determining the outcomes of the surgery is the patient education therefore this study was conducted to determine the effect of discharge education provided after cardiac surgery on recovery and quality of life. METHODS AND RESULTS: This research was conducted as a randomized pretest-posttest controlled study to determine the effects of discharge education after cardiac surgery on recovery and quality of life. The study was conducted between March 2022 and July 2023, in two Training and Research Hospitals with 70 inpatients. The data of the study were collected face to face and via telephone calls using the 'Patient's Personal Information Form', 'Multidimensional Index of Life Quality-MILQ-TR', 'Quality of Recovery - 40 Questionnaire-QOR-40' and 'Telephone Follow-Up Form'. According to this study's results, the recovery quality level and the quality of life of the patients in the intervention group was significantly higher than the patients in the control group. CONCLUSION: According to the results of the study, which was evaluated at a 95% confidence interval and a significance level below p < 0.05; the quality of recovery and quality of life of the intervention group patients were statistically higher, the complications were fewer, and the level of knowledge was higher. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial Registry The Effects of Discharge Education Program on Recovery and Quality of Life After Cardiac Surgery. Unique Identifying Number NCT05631340. Date of Registration 21/11/2022. ( https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05631340 ).