Determınatıon Of The Functıonal Independence Levels Of Elderly Patıents Undergoıng Hıp And Knee Arthroplasty Surgery


Thesis Type: Postgraduate

Institution Of The Thesis: Gazi University, Sağlık Bilimleri Enstitüsü, HEMŞİRELİK ANABİLİM DALI, Turkey

Approval Date: 2019

Thesis Language: Turkish

Student: AYSEL GÜL

Supervisor: Sevil Güler Demir

Abstract:

This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that was carried out to determine the functional autonomy levels of elderly patients who underwent to hip and knee arthroplasty surgery. The sample of the study included 43 patients aged of 65 or older, hospitalized at the Orthopedics and Traumatology Clinic at Sakarya University Research and Training Hospital for hip and knee arthroplasty surgery between the dates of May 2018 and March 2019. The research has been conducted in two stages by using patient identification form and The Functional Autonomy Measurement System (SMAF). The data of the research has been collected by face to face interaction with the patients before the surgery and by making phone calls after the 2nd and 6th week after the surgery. The analysis of the data utilized frequency distributions (number, percentage), descriptive statistics for the numerical variables (mean, standard deviation, median, minimum, maximum), Kruskal Wallis test, Mann Whitney U test, Friedman test, Wilcoxon test and Spearman’s Correlation test. Total knee arthroplasty was applied on 76.7% of the participants, while total hip arthroplasty was applied on 23.3%. While there is no significant difference between the communication and mental subscale scores of the SMAF in the preoperative and 2nd and 6th weeks of postoperative follow-ups of the patients (p>0.05), it is found that there was a statistically significant difference between the times of subscale and mean scores of SMAF in their activities of daily living (p<0.05). In the follow-ups, it has been identified that the level of functional independence of the patients has increased in time and this increase has especially occured between the 2nd and the 6th week after the surgery. According to the results obtained from the research; it is recommended that patients aged 65 years and older who underwent hip and knee arthroplasty should be evaluated regularly for preoperative and 2nd and 6th weeks of postoperative in terms of functional independence and influencing factors and it is also recommended that patients and their relatives should be provided with training and consultancy to increase their functional independence levels preoperative and postoperative periods, and their regular monitorings should be performed.

Key Words : Arthroplasty, Elderly Patient, Functional Independence, The Functional Autonomy Measurement System, Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing