Comparison of the effectiveness of nurse-led preoperative counseling and postoperative follow-up care vs standard care for patients with gastric cancer.

Background: Radical gastrectomy is generally prefered for gastric cancer but has postoperative complications. The objectives of the study are to evaluate the effectiveness of three different models of preoperative counseling and postoperative follow-up care in patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Methods: In retrospective medical record analyses, patients received nurse-led preoperative counseling and postoperative follow-up care (NC cohort, n = 105) or surgeon-led preoperative counseling and surgeon-led follow-up (SC cohort, n = 140), or did not receive counseling and aftercare (RC cohort, n = 160).

Results: Patients had a postoperative intensive care unit (PICU) stay of 24 (26-22) h/patient and postoperative pain of 6 (6-5)/ patient. The frequencies of nausea, vomiting, medical intensive care unit admission(s), dizziness, length of PICU stay, and intensity of postoperative pain were lower among patients in the NC cohort, followed by those in the SC and RC cohorts. A higher number of patients in the RC cohort died when compared to the NC (25 [16%) vs 2 [2%], p = 0.0458) and the SC (25 [16%] vs 11 [8%], p = 0.0001) cohorts in follow-up.

Conclusion: Patients who undergo radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer require healthcare professional-led preoperative counseling and postoperative aftercare. Nurse-led preoperative counseling and postoperative aftercare, could improve outcome measures in patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer.