The word stoma is derived from the Greek for “mouth or chasm", but in the medical context, it is interpreted as artificial opening when a surgical operation is needed to remove part of the bowel or bladder due to disease or trauma, an exit for excretory purpose is required and a stoma is raised. According to statistics of National Cancer Institute in Egypt, about 1094 patients had stoma during 2000-2001. The stoma nurse can often identify problems pre-operatively and patient might be able to discuss his problems with the stoma care nurse to resolve some of their fears. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the effect of proposed nursing intervention protocol for colostomy patient. This study was conducted in the surgical units, National Cancer Institute, Egypt. Convenient samples of 20 patients undergoing open laparotomy-created colostomy were included in the study. An exploratory descriptive research design was utilized in this study. Four tools of data collection Assessment Sheet, observational checklist, Nutritional Assessment Tool and Modified from [Rosenberg's Global self-esteem Scale [RGSS]] were used.
The results revealed that there was statistical significant difference between the mean of BMI, TSF, MAC, and MAMC in preoperative, postoperative, before discharge, and follow-up period with [P<0.001]. It can also be seen that, there was a statistical significant difference between the mean of hemoglobin level and albumin level in pre-operative, postoperative, before discharge, and in follow-up period with [P<0.05, <0.001], respectively. It was found that 55% of patients had low self-esteem, while 45% of patients had medium self-esteem, and 65% of patients had social problems.
Based on the result of the present study, it can be concluded that patient who do undergo stoma surgery can experience a poor quality of life and feeling of stigmatization, degradation, and isolation. All these feeling can be eased if the nurse can support the patient sensitively through the preoperative, postoperative, and rehabilitation stage, and be aware of the patient's needs at this time of their life.