Educational Strategies for Liver Transplant Candidates and Recipients: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract:Objective: To examine evidence in the literature on educational strategies for liver transplant candidates and recipients. Methods: This is an integrative literature review. The literature search was conducted in the following databases: National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (PubMed), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde (LILACS) and Embase. The identified records were exported to the EndNote reference manager for organization and removal of duplicates, and subsequently to the web application Rayyan for peer-blinded selection of studies. Two reviewers performed the selection of studies by reading the title and abstract (phase 1) and by reading the full article (phase 2). In both phases, the consensus meeting was held with a third reviewer. Data were analyzed descriptively. Results: Among 488 studies identified, seven articles were selected for the knowledge synthesis. Most studies brought health education strategies on medications, nutrition, digital technologies and related to complications, with a focus on transplant patients, identifying significant results for rehabilitation and patient adherence to the proposed treatment. We also observed a predominance of studies that addressed educational strategies with a focus on postoperative complications and that encompassed the multiprofessional areas (three studies), pharmacy (two studies), medicine (one study), and nursing (one study). Conclusion: The literature has shown that immunosuppressants, concern for complications, technology, and nutrition are essential in a comprehensive education plan for this clientele. Despite this, a limited number of studies were identified in the national and international literature on educational strategies about liver transplantation.