THE EFFECT OF HAND CARE EDUCATION ON HAND'S FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS IN BURN PATIENTS

Hand burn is the common and considerable cause of chronic disabilities، because it mostly causes functional disorders as abnormal movements in the hands. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of education on burn hand caring in patients admitted to Shahid Motahari Hospital.

This is an experimental study (clinical trial) conducted on sixty burn patients. The subjects was randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The samples were hand burn patients who had 45% total burn surface with 1 or 2 degrees. Experimental group was assessed before intervention of educational requirement، then a systematic education program was implemented into the subjects of both groups. They were tested on discharge by Jebson hand function tool. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 10.

Majority of patients'' were male with 15-25 years old، primary education، village resident، and low level economic status. The most referred cause of burning was benzene with total burn surface of %45- 36%. According to the results of Manwitny Test، there was a significant difference between the two groups in hand function after intervention concerning the abilities like writing، glass lifting، eating by spoon، matchbox arrangement، moving a water glass، and cube setting. But Manwitny Test doesn''t indicate any statistically significant difference between the two groups in glass reversing.

The researchers suggest implementing program package about hand burn to reduce the functional problems of the hand after burning. So it recommends the nurses to pay more attention to education in caring of these patients.