Abstract

PUPPOSE: The purpose of this descriptive study was to identify the discharge nursing needs of patients who received gastrectomy.
METHOD
The subjects of this study consisted of 100 patients who had gastric surgery in 4 university hospitals in chungnam province. The instrument for this study was developed by the researcher based on literature through in-depth interviews. Data was collected from October 4 to October 30, 2000.
RESULT
The results were as follows: Discharge nursing needs were classified in 8 main categories. The 8 categories were 'emotional and spiritual support', 'nutrition and diet control', 'medication', 'treatment planning and follow up care', 'activity level', 'symptom management' 'health seeking behavior' and 'social support'. The total mean score for nursing needs was 3.89. 'Nutrition and diet control' was the highest degree of nursing needs and 'activity level' was the lowest degree of nursing needs. There were significant differences in degrees of nursing needs between different ages(F=2.74, p=.048), level of education(F= 2.91, p=.038) and period since diagnosis(F= 4.46, p=.037).
CONCLUSION
This study looked at 8 categories of discharge nursing needs. Patients identified 'nutrition and diet control' as the highest need and 'activity level' as the lowest need. Further research needs to be done to identify discharge educational needs for various age groups, educational level and for patients with varing lengths of diagnosis time to surgery.

• Keywords: Nursing need; Gastric cancer