The effect of home visits after discharge on the quality of life of patients monitored in intensive care with a COVID-19 diagnosis

The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of post-discharge home visits on the quality of life of COVID-19 diagnosed patients who were under intensive care. This non-randomized controlled study included a sample of 42 patients, divided into 21 experimental and 21 control group participants. Data collection involved the use of a survey form, a post-discharge home monitoring and care form for COVID-19 patients, and the WHOQOL-BREF TR Quality of Life Scale. The experimental group received monthly home visits for care and monitoring, conducted three times per month. The control group had two consultations, one in the hospital and one at home. SPSS 22.0 statistical software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, repeated measure test, Friedman test, and Mann-Whitney U test were applied for analysis. A p-value below 0.05 was considered significant for all analyses. During the first home visit for the experimental group, all patients exhibited dry cough symptoms. However, by the third month, 58.8% of patients had no dry cough symptoms (p<0.05). The sub-dimension of the WHOQOL-BREF TR Quality of Life Scale, the general health domain scores, showed that in the experimental group, the average score was 5.33 ± 2.15 in the first month, and in the control group, it was 6.00 ± 1.73 (p > 0.05). By the third month, the average general health scores were 7.38 ± 1.65 for the experimental group and 5.52 ± 1.74 for the control group (p<0.05). Other sub-dimensions of the WHOQOL-BREF TR Quality of Life Scale showed that patients in the experimental group had higher scores at the three-month mark compared to the control group (p<0.05). In conclusion, home visits provided by nurses to COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized and subsequently discharged positively impacted their quality of life