Abstract:
This descriptive study aimed to investigate physiological adaptation in
patients with cancer of the colon undergoing surgery, in order to compare
physiological adaptation on the third day after the operation and the discharge day and,
to compare physiological adaptation in patients with differences in gender, age, family
income, education, length of time after surgery, stage of disease, and other concurrent
diseases. The samples were 36 patients with colon cancer undergoing surgery at the
Bangkok Medical College and Vajira Hospital, the National Cancer Institute, and
Siriraj Hospital. The instruments used in the study were a demographic questionnaire
and a physiological adaptation questionnaire. For statistical analysis, the paired t-test
and Mann-Whitney U Test were used.
The results revealed that the overall mean for physiological adaptation on the
third day after the operation was 2.64 (SD= .29), and on the discharge day the overall
mean score was 3.72 (SD= .14). Physiological adaptation between the third day after
the operation and the discharge day were significantly different, at p<0.001. On the
third day after the operation, the subjects with differences in selected variables had no
significant difference in overall physiological adaptation. Only some aspects showed a
significant difference. On discharge day, the subjects who had different stages of
disease had significant differences in overall physiological adaptation (p < 0.05).
These findings will be helpful in discharge planning, because they confirm
that patients with colon cancer undergoing surgery had individual physiological
adaptations. Therefore, nurses may provide appropriate planning for effective
intervention, to promote patients’ physiological adaptation and early recovery. Finally
it may result in shortening the length of hospital stay