Postoperative rehabilitation exercise experiences of geriatric patients with femoral neck fractures based on the perspective of medical staff

Medical staff indicate lack of patient initiative and limited resources as obstacles for effective postoperative rehabilitation exercise of geriatric patients with femoral neck fractures (FNFs), while multidisciplinary collaboration, professional skills and caregiver support are promoting factors.

A recent study which was conducted in China investigated the medical staff’s views, experiences, and suggestions on the implementation status, existing concerns, promotion, and hindrance factors of postoperative rehabilitation exercises in geriatric patients with FNFs. 21 health professionals, with a mean clinical experience of 11.3 years, were interviewed.

The results of the study revealed that the implementation of rehabilitation exercises faces multiple obstacles, as the patients:

• have insufficient understanding and management of the rehabilitation exercises
• don’t have enough trust in doctors, rehabilitation therapists, and nurses
• who are older, with lower income and with psychological conditions had less initiative to complete their rehabilitation programme.

The medical staff expressed the uncertainty of the comprehensiveness and continuity of rehabilitation exercise, stating that due to limited human and medical resources, patient follow-up is inadequate, which leads to the continuous interruption of patient rehabilitation exercises. All respondents agreed that excellent professional skills in rehabilitation exercises were essential, as was professional ethics.

An important difficulty mentioned was the limited number of professionals providing rehabilitation exercises and as a result, the assistance they can provide to patients is often limited by time and workload. Regarding the multifaceted support needed for the implementation of rehabilitation exercise, caregiver support, social support, and multi-form resource support are promoting factors for rehabilitation exercises. Also, the medical stuff thought that technical support, use of advanced equipment, collaboration between hospitals and support from the government were key factors.

According to the authors: ‘Medical staff should accurately assess the patient’s symptoms, exercise capacity, and quality of life, broaden their avenues for health education, improve the degree of matched health education and patients’ needs, and develop professional, comprehensive, and personalized rehabilitation exercise programs’. 

Read the article here!