Quality of Family-Centered Education and Follow-up Program for Burn Patients in Tabriz Sina Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Abstract Background: Burn injuries are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, affecting not only the patients but also their families. Family-based education and follow-up program are interventions that aim to improve the quality of life and psychosocial outcomes of patients with burns and their families. However, there is a lack of evidence on the effectiveness and feasibility of these programs in different settings and populations. This study aimed to evaluate the features of the Family-based education and follow-up program (FBEFP). method: This research is a comparative descriptive study that examines the quality of the content and process of the Family-based education and follow-up program (FBEFP) by evaluating the number of patients under follow-up, educational needs, training provided, and the quality of life for the group under follow-up through case files available in the follow-up clinic. Also, the rate of readmission and satisfaction for two groups under follow-up and without follow-up are evaluated and compared. Results: The results of this study revealed the positive impacts of the FBEFP on the patients' physical, psychological, and social outcomes and quality of life. 4.8% of the people in the follow-up group were re-admitted, while this amount was 7.2% in the group without follow-up. Although the number of readmissions was less in the non-follow-up group, statistically no significant difference was observed between the two ratios before and after follow-up. In order to evaluate satisfaction rates, In the follow-up group, 72 patients and in the non-follow-up group, 38 patients were reached. After converting these data to normal distribution, using t-test, it was determined that the difference between the two studied groups was highly significant. In other words, the follow-up process has had favorable results on the satisfaction of the studied people. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the implemented Family-based education and follow-up program, despite its shortcomings such as not following up all selected patients and the small number of people followed up after discharge, had important effects such as improving the quality of life of patients, reducing educational needs and a significant increase in the level of satisfaction. Considering the importance of the above items in improving the quality of the services provided, it is important to take necessary actions to improve the implementation of this program and eliminate the shortcomings such as the lack of human resources in the follow-up department. Also, it seems that the causes of some patients' lack of interest in re-following should be investigated more carefully so that the necessary modifications or additions to the program can be made by knowing these factors.