Efficacy of Nursing Interventions on Pain level and Post-operative Quality of Recovery of Patients undergoing Abdominal Surgery

Abstract

Introduction: Patients undergoing abdominal surgery are at risk of developing complications such as infection, deep vein thrombosis and respiratory system conditions i.e., atelectasis because patients tend to take shallow breaths due to surgical incision in abdomen. Nurses play a significant role in preventing these complications by providing postoperative care.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess efficacy of nursing interventions in reducing pain level and improving quality of recovery of post-operative patients undergoing abdominal surgery.

Method: Quantitative research approach and quasi experimental research design was adopted in this study. Judgmental sampling technique was used to select 64 patients who had undergone open abdominal surgery, 32 in experimental and 32 in control groups. Patients in experimental group were provided nursing interventions consisting of early ambulation, steam inhalation, and incentive spirometry during post-operative period and patients in control group received routine care. Data was collected on first and fifth post-operative day by using pain rating scale and modified post-operative quality of recovery scale.

Result: The results revealed that the mean pain score of patients in experimental group was 3.41±0.665 and of control group 5.09 ± .0928 with “t’’= 8.35 and post-test mean score of post-operative quality of recovery of experimental group was 68.88 ± 5.36 and of control group 53.88 ± 4.09 with “t” =12.57 at p<0.01.

Conclusion: The nursing interventions were effective in reducing the pain level of patients in experimental group compared to control group similarly it was effective in improving the quality of recovery of patients in experimental group compared to control group.