Abstract

Human hand is one of the most sophisticated organs created by nature. Loss of a hand as a result of traumatical amputation makes a patient not only physically invalid but also negatively affects his/her social contacts. Replantation of an upper limb followed by rehabilitation diminishes such a mutilation enabling also to regain a large range of its previous function. Nowadays new boundaries in this field were created by the possibility of hand transplantation. Such a patient requires immunotherapy similar to that received by other transplants recipients. The first hand transplant in Poland was performed on the 2nd of April 2006 by the team of doctors and nurses led by dr Jerzy Jablecki. The nurse is the member of medical personnel who first gets in touch with a patient qualified for a transplantation. New methods of operations and therapy are a challenge for a the whole medical team. The effectiveness of the treatment is equally dependent from strictly surgical procedure as well as the pre- and postoperative care. A holistic attitude to the patient ensures very high quality of nursing care in which the nurses of the emergency ward, operating theatre, anaesthesiological and traumatology department are involved. The operative nurse takes an active part in the limb procurement, surgical preparation of the donor limb, and lastly plays an important role in the operation of limb transplant itself. The main role of the other above mentioned groups of nurses lies in the general preparation of the recipient for the operation, including psychological care, and after the transplantation keeping round the clock an eye on the patient isolated in a special aseptic room. This role is not only limited to performing strictly medical procedures but also includes giving the patient psychological support, proceeding with health - education and developing his or her self- independence. All of the above mentioned tasks are destined to make the patient feel more self-assured in the hospital environment and we the nurses of St Jadwiga Hospital are trying to fulfil that.

Keywords: Nursing Care