Impact of nursing interventions on postoperative patients with hemorrhoids: A meta-analysis

After hemorrhoid surgery, patients may experience a series of complications, including pain, bleeding, wound infection, urinary retention, constipation, anal distention, and anal edge swelling. If these complications are not promptly and effectively cared for and treated, they will exacerbate the physical pain and psychological pressure of patients. Although routine care can alleviate patients’ clinical symptoms to some extent, its effectiveness in pain relief and improving mental health is limited. Therefore, developing a new nursing model to improve postoperative pain and complications in hemorrhoid patients is particularly important. With the evolution of social healthcare models, patients’ demands for the quality of nursing services are constantly increasing, and traditional nursing models are no longer able to meet the current needs of patients. PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang Data were searched for randomized controlled trials related to the impact of nursing interventions on postoperative patients with hemorrhoids published from January 2020 to June 2024. The retrieved studies were independently screened by two researchers, and the methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using the bias risk assessment tool recommended in Cochrane 5.1 manual, followed by statistical analysis. A total of 1146 patients were included in 13 studies. The meta-analysis results show that the wound healing time of the test group was significantly lower (p < 0.01, SMD: −3.24; 95% CI: −3.68 to −2.79) than that of the control group. First urination time (p < 0.01, SMD: −1.70; 95% CI: −2.13 to −1.27) and first defecation time (p < 0.01, SMD: −9.64; 95% CI: −12.79 to −6.50) of the test group were also lower. There were significant statistical differences in the occurrence of complications, such as anal edema, postoperative infection, and urinary retention. The results of this meta-analysis show that comprehensive nursing interventions can shorten wound healing time, first urination time, and first defecation time and reduce the incidence of complications, such as anal edema, postoperative infection, and urinary retention, compared to usual nursing.