To explore the effects of family involvement and online extended nursing for postoperative rehabilitation in patients with cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI) .

Totally 60 CSCI patients who were admitted and received surgery in Honghui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University from October 2013 to July 2016 and their major caregivers after being discharged from hospital were equally divided into an observation group (n=30) and a control group (n=30) according to the random number table. Patients in the control group received conventional instructions 1 day before being discharged from hospital and telephone follow-ups in Week 1, Month 1, Month 3 and Month 6 after being discharged from hospital, while patients in the observation group received extended nursing via WeChat groups on this basis. The quality of life, incidence of complications and compliance of rehabilitation exercise six months after surgery were compared between the patients in the two groups.

The patients in the two groups showed higher scores in various dimensions indicating the quality of life six months after surgery than they did at discharge, and the patients in the observation group showed higher scores than the patients in the control group (P<0.05) . The patients in the observation group showed lower incidence of abdominal distension, constipation and pressure ulcer complications than the patients in the control group (P<0.05) , and the incidence of high fever, pulmonary infection and urinary tract infection tended to decline (P>0.05) . The patients in the observation group showed higher compliance of rehabilitation exercise than the patients in the control group (P<0.05) .

Family involvement and WeChat extended nursing helps to build a long-term service system for CSCI patients and accelerate their postoperative rehabilitation, thus worthy of expansion and application.

Rehabilitation nursing; Cervical spinal cord injury; Extended nursing; Family members; WeChat