A Comparative Study of Discomfort Experienced by Surgical Patients on Three Selected Postoperative Days

A descriptive survey was conducted to compare the discomfort experienced on three selected postoperative days to determine if there is one day identified by the patient as the most uncomfortable and to assess the symptoms of which he might complain. A checklist of twelve symptoms common to postsurgical patients was administered on the evenings of the second, third and fourth postoperative days by the researcher. Findings indicated that nineteen or 56 per cent of the thirty-four patients interviewed stated that the second day was most uncomfortable, nine or 27 per cent the third and six or 17 per cent the fourth day. This difference is significant at the .05 level. Incisional pain caused the most discomfort while headache was the least important physical symptom. Apprehension ranked highest with a feeling of wanting to cry was lowest among the symptoms of an emotional nature. No relationship was shown between the type of surgery and the statement of discomfort. There seemed to be a tendency towards lessening of severity of symptoms on each successive day. Mean complaint scores indicated that women have more discomfort or complaints than man. A correlation between the sexes of .867 is significant. It was concluded that the second day, rather than the third as commonly held among nurses, is most uncomfortable; that time tends to blur the memory of hospitalization discomforts; that physical symptoms caused more discomfort than symptoms of an emotional origin; and that men complain less than women. Recommendations included that a similar study be done among a larger sample in several hospitals to verify the findings of this study; that attitudes of patients concerning preoperative teachings be further investigated with regard to educational, socio-economic and educational backgrounds; and that a study be done to find out if woman have more discomfort postoperatively than men or if this would seem to be so because women complain more