Although monitoring progress is an everyday nursing activity, methods currently employed remain relatively undeveloped. In the past most studies documented physical recovery, tending to focus upon complications such as infection rates, which are quantifiable. Patients’ satisfaction with progress is seldom taken into account, although it may provide a more accurate reflection of progress. In this paper, recovery following major cardiac surgery and hysterectomy performed for benign lesions are compared in terms of psychological adjustment to the effects of surgery and resumption of a wide range of activities within and outside the home, in addition to physical progress. On the whole patients accepted the effects of hysterectomy and their own assessments of recovery proved favourable despite considerable residual physical problems of a minor but troublesome nature. In contrast, recovery from cardiac surgery was more difficult and proceeded more slowly, as expected following this major operatio
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