Nursing Interventions for Management of Patients Undergoing Hernia Surgery: A Meta-Analysis.
Xiaohua Zhu
PMID 41084174WHAT IT FOUND
Nurse-led care after hernia repair was associated with less pain, fewer complications and shorter stays than standard care.
Pain results varied widely, and some published studies may have been selectively reported.
Key findings
01Across seven studies with 700 participants, nurse-led interventions were associated with lower pain (standardised mean difference -3.088, 95% CI -4.635 to -1.541), but heterogeneity was 98.0%.
02Across 14 studies with 1479 participants, nurse-led interventions were associated with fewer overall postoperative complications (odds ratio 0.267, 95% CI 0.184 to 0.389), with no heterogeneity.
03Across six studies with 470 participants, hospital stay was shorter (mean difference -1.945 days, 95% CI -2.941 to -0.949), but heterogeneity was 96.4%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Most included studies were non-randomised, and many had some concerns or higher risk of bias. Most studies were conducted in China. The pain and hospital stay results had high heterogeneity, so the pooled estimates are unstable. Publication bias was detected for overall complications. The nursing interventions were not described in a standardised way, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. Subgroup analyses were limited by the small number of studies in some groups.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest and nothing to report.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the pooled pain reduction as a precise estimate of benefit. The pain analysis had 98.0% heterogeneity, and publication bias was detected for overall complications, so the results may be unstable.