Feasibility and Effectiveness of Nursing Intervention to Reorganize Movement of the Patient Just After the Onset of Stroke: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the feasibility of nursing intervention to reorganize movements in patients in the acute phase immediately after the onset of stroke. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to clarify the sample size and the validity of the indices necessary to verify the effectiveness of the intervention, as well as the issues to be addressed in order to conduct a full-scale study.

Methods: This study included 40 patients (control group, n = 20; intervention group, n = 20) 60–85 years old who were admitted to the Stroke care unit within 3 days after the onset of stroke. Nursing intervention to reorganize movements was performed from days 4 to 15 after the onset of stroke, and the effectiveness of the intervention was analyzed using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM).

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the outcome measures between the control and intervention groups. In an analysis limited to patients with NIHSS <20 on admission, the intervention group had a higher FIM cognitive score improvement on day 15, which was a statistically significant difference.

Conclusion: The results of this study revealed the issues associated with conducting a full-scale study in the future, such as establishing the necessary sample size, the need to standardize the assessment instruments, the methodology, and the other research methods.