Nurse Supervised at Institutes versus Nurse Counseling Home-Based Resistance Exercise Training for Acute Pancreatitis

Background

The physical and mental quality of life of patients with acute pancreatitis is poor. Professional nurses have the necessary knowledge, art, and skills to aid in resistance exercise training.

Aims

To evaluate the effectiveness of 6 months of nurse-supervised resistance exercise training plus nutritional supplements and 6 months of nurse counseling home-based resistance exercise training plus nutritional supplements for patients with pancreatitis.

Methods

Patients with acute pancreatitis (age ≥ 18 years) received nurse-supervised resistance exercise training at the institute (NEN cohort, n = 103), nurse counseling for home-based resistance exercise (HEN cohort, n = 123), or usual care (UCN cohort, n = 155) for 6 months. All patients received advice regarding nutritional especially protein supplements.

Results

Before non-treatment intervention(s) (BL), quality of life score of patients was 53, mild-to-moderate self-reported pain episodes, or worse pain, and a total of 22% of patients were disabled. Patients in the NEN cohort had improved quality of life and decreased pain and disability after 6 months of non-treatment intervention(s) (EL) compared to their BL condition and those of the UCN and HEN cohorts at EL (p < 0.05 for all). A smaller number of patients were hospitalized and died in the NEN cohort than in the UCN and HEN cohorts (p ≤ 0.001 for both) during the follow-up period.

Conclusion

The quality of life, pain, and disability condition(s) of patients with acute pancreatitis should be improved. Nurse-supervised resistance exercise training at the institute associated with improvement in the quality of life and decrease of pain, disability, hospitalization, and death of patients with acute pancreatitis.

Graphical Abstract