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Title: Two Methods of Teaching Ostomy Care
Topic: Research results, lessons learned, and application of research into practice from an experimental study of post-operative teaching for first-time ostomy patients
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of ostomy care instruction in terms of effects on patients’ knowledge, skills, and confidence related to postoperative ostomy care.
Methodology:
- Design: Post-test only, experimental design comparing two methods of postoperative ostomy education
- Subjects: 88 adult postoperative ostomy patients, randomly assigned to the “Usual” or “Alternate” teaching method groups. Complete data sets were collected from 68, which fully powered the study.
- Intervention / Procedure: Our research team created a video recording on basic ostomy care. Certified Wound Ostomy Continence nurses provided ostomy teaching either as ”Usual Teaching” (three one-on-one sessions) or “Alternate Teaching” (two one-on-one sessions with a video session in between). Subjects completed a written test of ostomy knowledge, a self-care skills demonstration, and a visual analog scale rating their confidence with ostomy care.
- Analysis: Descriptive statistics, t-tests, chi-square tests, and analysis of variance based on two between-group factors of teaching method and type of ostomy.
Results: There were no significant differences between the two teaching methods or type of ostomy with regard to knowledge of ostomy care (F(3,64) = 1.308, p = 0.280), ostomy care skills (F(3,64) = 0.163, p = 0.921), or confidence in performing ostomy self-care (F(3,64) = 0.629, p = 0.599). Nor were between-group differences detected related to patients’ self-reported learning style, education level, age, room type, or gender. The research team learned valuable lessons from reflection on the amount of information taught, DVD production, and the research process.
Conclusion: An integrated video method is as effective as a traditional method when educating ostomy patients in postoperative self-care.