Effectiveness of follow-up care provided by stomal therapy nurses for quality of life among adolescents and adults: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Stomal therapy is a specialized nursing stream. The specialty was formed to promote the well-being of patients with a stoma. In current times of expanding health care costs, the profession needs to justify the benefits they provide to their clientele to retain firstly adequate service provision to its members and also the range of products required to carry out its work. This systematic review was undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of follow up care provided by stomal therapy nurses. Objective: The objective of this review is to synthesize the best available evidence of the effectiveness of follow up care provided by stomal therapy nurses to adolescents and adults. Inclusion Criteria: Participants in the studies were young adolescents of fourteen years of age to older adults. All participants needed to have a stoma for the duration of the research study. Results: Six quantitative studies were approved for inclusion in this review. Meta analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity of studies. The benefit of stomal therapy nursing care to patients with a stoma was demonstrated in studies using follow up care at home visits, after stomal therapy input where none had previously been provided and by improvements in quality of life scores after stomal therapy follow up care. Conclusion: Although significant benefits were demonstrated associated with stomal therapy nurse contact, the study design was often such that cause and effect could not be illustrated. A stoma specific tool was often not used which also affected results. The value of stomal therapy nursing care needs to be investigated in different ways so that a direct causal relationship can be demonstrated.