Continuing care after discharge from hospital for stoma patients.

The purpose of this study was to monitor the progress of patients given a permanent colostomy for colorectal carcinoma and to evaluate the need for nursing interventions or referral. A pretested semistructured interview schedule was used. Interviews were conducted at 1 week, 1 month, 6 months and 1 year after discharge. Complete data sets were obtained from 112 patients. In this study it was found that survival was strongly related to Dukes' staging system. More than half of those surviving to 1 year suffered fatigue, one in 10 had severe pain and one in five had parastomal hernia. At each interview approximately one in four people required intervention and one in 10 were referred. This study demonstrates the need for home visits and sustained patient contact. High priority should be given to a full benefit analysis of screening programmes, including the considerable costs of aftercare.