The evaluation of recovery status and care needs of postoperative patients

The aim of the research was to evaluate the recovery status and care needs of postoperative patients. This study adopted a descriptive, cross-sectional design. The research sample comprised 80 patients underwent surgery. The presence of postoperative symptoms such as pain and post-operative supportive care needs were assessed using "Quality of Recovery-40 Questionnaire (QoR-40)". The mobility difficulties experienced by patients and activity level during postoperative period were evaluated using "Patient Mobility Scale" and "Observer Mobility Scale". The data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 software. Mean score of total QoR-40 scale was 162.75 ± 20.81, and 48.78 ± 7.16 for "Physical Comfort" subscale, 37.19 ± 5.05 for "Emotional State" subscale, 30.46 ± 3.78 for "Patient Support" subscale, 20.06 ± 3.54 for "Physical Independence" subscale, and 26.26 ± 4.37 for "Pain" subscale. "Moderate pain" item of QoR-40 scale obtained the lowest score (3.34 ± 0.73). These results suggest that the surgical patients during postoperative period needed support for pain management. More than fifty percent of patients (53.8%) needed a verbal prompting and the physical assistance for moving from one side to the other side of the bed, 38.8% needed support for sitting by the bed and 38.8% for performing walking activity in their room. The results showed that the patients were unable to turn independently from one side to the other side of the bed bedside. There was a negative relationship between "Quality of Recovery-40 Questionnaire" mean scores and "Mobility Scales" mean scores (rs = -0.43 to -0.67, p< 0.01). The research findings showed that patients in postoperative period need support for management with postoperative symptoms and interventions for improving mobilization and physical activities and these interventions may lead to more effective postoperative recovery.