References
Factors influencing health-related quality of life of those in the Netherlands living with an ostomy
Abstract
Background:
this study examined the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and wellbeing of people in the Netherlands who had undergone ostomy surgery.
Aims:
to assess how an ostomy population perceives their HRQoL and determine key stressors that influence HRQoL in this population.
Methods:
a cross-sectional survey, including the City of Hope National Medical Center Quality of Life Questionnaire for patients with an ostomy and a Visual Analogue Scale measuring HRQoL, was used to evaluate postsurgical patients.
Findings:
people with an ostomy in the Netherlands have a generally positive HRQoL, but this may be affected by peristomal skin irritation, experience of leakage on to the peristomal skin and whether their surgery was planned.
Conclusions:
access to specialist nurse support and products designed to prevent leakage and prevent skin irritation—two key drivers of HRQoL—may be able to maximise an individual's health status throughout their lifelong journey as a person with an ostomy.
The creation of an abdominal stoma for the discharge of bodily waste is a life-altering event. For many, the intervention is life saving and/or a relief from devastating symptoms of long-term gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease and diverticulitis and diseases such as colorectal cancer (Formijne Jonkers et al, 2012; Abdalla et al, 2016; Herrinton et al, 2016).
While the benefits to the health of the person who has undergone the surgery is evident to the nurse, it is not always evident nor is it of similar value to the patient. For a nurse, success may be defined as when the underlying disease greatly improves or does not recur, or the patient is no longer readmitted to the hospital because of their underlying condition and is free of postsurgical complications (Formijne Jonkers et al, 2012; Abdalla et al, 2016; Herrinton et al, 2016).
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