Effectiveness of cryotherapy on procedural pain among the cardiac post operative patients at a selected setting in Chennai

A study to assess the effectiveness of cryotherapy on procedural pain among cardiac post operative patients at a selected setting in Chennai. OBJECTIVES : 1. To assess the baseline and post test level of procedural pain in experimental and control group. 2. To assess the effectiveness of cryotherapy on the level of procedural pain between the experimental and control group. 3. To associate the post test level of procedural pain with selected demographic and clinical variables of experimental group. METHODOLOGY : The research design used was true experimental post test only design, the study was conducted in the post operative cardiac AICU of Madras Medical Mission Hospital, Chennai. 80 samples were selected by using simple random sampling technique using lottery method in which 40 each was allotted to the experimental and control group. The experimental group had the cryotherapy (cooling gel pack) applied around the chest tube insertion site for 15 minutes prior to chest tube removal along with hospital routine (Inj.Perfelgan) 30minutes prior to the chest tube removal whereas in the control group, patients were administered only the usual hospital routine during chest tube removal. The data was collected by using modified comfort scale (pain distress) and visual analogue scale (pain intensity) 30 minutes before Chest Tube Removal (CTR), during CTR within 5minutes and 20 minutes after CTR. The data collected was organized and tabulated for analysis. RESULTS : The overall statistical analysis in the experimental group revealed that in the post test I level of pain distress 26(65%) of them had severe pain distress and 14(40%) of them had very severe pain distress. The post test II level of pain distress showed that 34(85%) and 6(15%) of them in the experimental group had mild and moderate pain distress level respectively. Whereas the statistical analysis in the control group revealed that the post test I level of pain distress 40(100%) of them had very severe pain distress and the post test II level of pain distress showed that 14(35%) and 26(65%) of them in the experimental group had mild and moderate pain distress level respectively. The overall statistical analysis in the experimental group revealed that the post test I level of pain intensity 1(2.5%) of them had moderate pain intensity and 39(97.5%) of them had very severe pain intensity. The post test II level of pain intensity showed that 20(50%) and 20(50%) of them in the experimental group had mild and moderate pain respectively. Whereas the overall statistical analysis in the control group revealed that the post test I level of pain intensity 40(100%) of them had very severe pain intensity and the post test II level of pain intensity showed that 5(12.5%) and 35(87.5%) of them in the experimental group had mild and moderate pain intensity level respectively. The results revealed that there was statistically significant difference in the level of pain distress between the experimental and control group in post test I at p<0.05 level of significance with a “ t” value of 7.428 and for post test II at p<0.05 level of significance with a “ t” value of 6.731. There was statistical significant difference in the level of pain intensity between the experimental and control group in post test I at p<0.05 level of significance with a “ t” value of 4.737 and for post test II at p