Effects of Multimodal Pain Management on Median Sternotomy Wound Pain Scores Compared to Standard Nursing Care in Post-cardiac Surgery Patients within 48-72 Hours Post-operation
Keywords:
multimodal pain management, cold application, surgical wound pain, post-cardiac surgery patientsAbstract
This quasi-experimental research aimed to investigate the effects of multimodal pain management on median sternotomy wound pain scores compared to standard nursing care in post-cardiac surgery patients within 48-72 hours post-operation. The sample consisted of 40 post-cardiac surgery patients, divided into experimental and control groups of 20 patients each. The experimental group received multimodal pain management comprised of analgesic medications combined with cold application at 18-22 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, twice daily, while the control group received standard nursing care. Research instruments included a demographic data form and a Numerical Rating Scale for pain assessment. Content validity was verified by five experts with a content validity index of 1.00, and reliability testing using Pearson's correlation coefficient yielded a value of .83. The study was conducted from September 2024 to January 2025 at the Cardiac Surgery Semi-Intensive Care Unit of Queen Sirikit Heart Center. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for general information, Chi-Square tests and Fisher's Exact tests for comparing data between groups, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests for comparing pain scores before and after intervention within groups, and Mann-Whitney U tests for comparing pain scores between groups.
The research findings showed that: 1) The experimental group had statistically significantly lower pain scores compared to their pre-intervention measurements (p < .001), and 2) The experimental group had statistically significantly lower pain scores than the control group (p < .05). Therefore, multimodal pain management should be incorporated into nursing practice guidelines to enhance pain relief effectiveness in post-cardiac surgery patients.
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