Admission Care for Bell’s Palsy Patients: A Qualitative Report on Patient Experiences

Seung Min Lee; Sung Pil Yang; Eun Suk Kim; Min Jun Lee; Ji Min Park; Dong Woo Nam; Jung Won Kang; Sang Hoon Lee

doi:10.13045/acupunct.2013042

J Acupunct Res > Volume 30(5); 2013 > Article

Lee, Yang, Kim, Lee, Park, Nam, Kang, and Lee: Admission Care for Bell’s Palsy Patients: A Qualitative Report on Patient Experiences※

Original Article

The Acupuncture 2013; 30(5): 11-23.

Published online: December 20, 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13045/acupunct.2013042

Admission Care for Bell’s Palsy Patients: A Qualitative Report on Patient Experiences^※

Seung Min Lee, Sung Pil Yang, Eun Suk Kim, Min Jun Lee, Ji Min Park, Dong Woo Nam, Jung Won Kang, Sang Hoon Lee^*

Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University

Supported by:

^※ This study is supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government(MEST)(No.2011-002898)

^*Corresponding author : Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion Medicine, Kyung Hee University Oriental Medicine Hospital, 23, Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-872, Republic of Korea, Tel : 02-958-9157 E-mail : shlee777@khu.ac.kr

Received August 27, 2013 Revised August 30, 2013 Accepted August 30, 2013

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of patients admitted for Bell’s palsy in a Korean medicine hospital to identify whether admission is necessary and beneficial.

Methods:

A semi-structured interview was conducted on 9 patients who had experience in both the inpatient and the outpatient treatment for Bell’s palsy. Their experiences from inception of first symptoms to admission into the Facial Palsy Center in Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital were interviewed along with their thoughts and feelings. The interviews took place after discharge home at a pre-scheduled date and time in a quiet room at the hospital between July 2013 and August 2013. The subjects were purposefully selected until saturation of information was met.

Results:

Nine participants were interviewed and patients’ concerns and priorities were identified. At the acute stage, patients experienced anxiety and all of the female patients and one male patient felt embarrassed of their facial disfigurement. With time, the patients felt impatient of their symptoms and turned to Korean medicine for additional treatment. Providing psychological stability seemed to be an important factor for patients.

Conclusions:

This study provides insight into the experiences of patients with Bell’s palsy, and is significantly the first ever qualitative report to focus on the patient’s needs and concerns during admission care for symptoms of Bell’s palsy. Admission care can provide many physical and psychological benefits for the patients especially during the acute stage.

Key Words: Admission care; Bell’s palsy; Qualitative report.

Table 1.

Characteristics of Participants

Code	Gender		Occupation	Residence	Date of onset	Date of admission	Admission period	H-B Gr at admission	H-B Gr at date of interview
S001	F	30	Office worker	Gyungkido	2013.06.08	2013.06.20	15	III	II
S002	M	30	Office worker	Seoul	2013.06.14	2013.06.18	11	IV	II
S003	M	59	Electrician	Seoul	2013.06.23	2013.07.01	5	IV	III
S004	F	44	Housewife	Gyungkido	2013.07.06	2013.07.08	15	IV	III
S005	M	33	Engineer	Canada	2013.07.04	2013.07.19	8	III	II
S006	F	53	Housewife	Gyungkido	2013.07.10	2013.07.16	12	IV	II
S007	F	52	Housewife	Seoul	2013.02.21	2013.07.04	28	II	II
S008	M	40	Production line worker	Seoul	2013.06.03	2013.07.22	12	III	II
S009	F	59	Housewife	Seoul	2012.070.9	2013.04.30	15	IV	III

H-B Gr : House-Brackmann grade.

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