Postsurgical examination of functional outcome of patients having undergone surgical treatment of intracranial aneurysm.

Research into outcomes from surgical intervention for intracranial aneurysms have focused on the clinical picture of the disease entity and death rate, comparison of different surgical methods, as well as the most common postoperative and postbleeding complications. From the nursing standpoint, the crucial element in assessing postoperative patients is the broadly understood functional outcome defining patients' ability to function in life, while at the same time recognising the impairments, in which patients will be dependent on the nursing staff. The aim of the study was to assess the functional outcomes of patients in the days following the surgical treatment. The research was carried out in Neurosurgical Department and Clinic, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland. A longitudinal study was carried out with 128 patients having undergone removal of an intracranial aneurysm. In the research both the observation and measuring scores were used. Also Hunt and Hess Grades, the Glasgow Coma Score and the Glasgow Outcome Score were used. To assess functional outcomes of patients, the Functional Capacity Scale was used. The research shows that the functional outcome improves with time, see Statistical analysis (p < 0.001). In the majority of patients some functional outcome deficit was observed mainly in the areas such as relieving oneself and maintaining personal hygiene. The conclusions from the research are as follows: (1) following the surgical treatment of the intracranial aneurysm (day 1, 3, 6 and 9) the majority of patients displayed considerable lack of functional outcome, and were therefore dependent on the nursing staff and relatives (family and friends); (2) on discharge (final measurement) patients were largely self-dependent and displayed negligible impairments of functional outcome.