Effectiveness of massage therapy on post-operative outcomes among patients undergoing cardiac surgery: A systematic review

The Effect of Combination Prayer Therapy and Education on Pre-operative Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Anxiety

Background: Anxiety is a problem that most often occurs in the pre-operative coronary artery bypass graft surgery stage. The combination of prayer therapy with education is expected to be able to overcome anxiety. The combination of prayer and education therapy have been researched as a potential holistic intervention for reducing anxiety in coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Purpose: This study compares the effect of combination therapy with the golden standard of therapy in hospitals. Methods: A true-experimental design was used. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to two groups. Data were collected using a State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire from Spielberger. Findings: Most respondents were elderly, male, high school graduates in the treatment group, and bachelor graduates in the control group. Prayer therapy and education have an effect of 63.8% on reducing anxiety. An increase of 1 constant in the provision of prayer therapy and education can reduce anxiety by 0.772. Conclusions: The combination of prayer therapy and education becomes the holistic nursing modality that can reduce anxiety in pre-operative coronary artery bypass graft patients.

Effect of Acupressure on Pain Severity in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Graft: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background

Considering the contradictory results on the role of complementary therapies in correcting post-operative side effects, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of acupressure on pain severity in patients undergoing coronary artery graft admitted to a coronary care unit.

Methods

In this double-blind, randomized, clinical trial, 70 patients were selected randomly after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery based on inclusion criteria and then assigned to two groups (35 in acupressure and 35 in control) randomly by the minimization method. The intervention group received acupressure at the LI4 point for 20 minutes in 10-second pressure and 2-second resting periods. In the control group, only touching was applied without any pressure in the same pattern as the intervention group. Pain severity was measured before, immediately, and 20 minutes after applying pressure and touch in both groups using the visual analogue scale.

Results

The results of repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a decrease in the pain score in the intervention group (group effect) during multiple measurements (time effect) and a reduction in the mean pain score in the various measurements taking into account the groups (the interaction between time and group; P = 0.001).

Conclusions

Acupressure can be used as a complementary and alternative therapeutic approach to relieve post-operative pain in CABG patients.

The Effectiveness of Hand Massage on Pain in Critically Ill Patients After Cardiac Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol

Background

Postoperative pain is common in the intensive care unit despite the administration of analgesia. Some trials suggest that massage can be effective at reducing postoperative pain in acute care units; however, its effects on pain relief in the intensive care unit and when pain severity is highest remain unknown.

Objective

The objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of hand massage on the pain intensity (primary outcome), unpleasantness and interference, muscle tension, anxiety, and vital signs of critically ill patients after cardiac surgery.

Methods

A 3-arm randomized controlled trial will be conducted. A total of 79 patients who are 18 years or older, able to speak French or English and self-report symptoms, have undergone elective cardiac surgery, and do not have a high risk of postoperative complications and contraindications to hand massage will be recruited. They will be randomly allocated (1:1:1) to standard care plus either 3 20-minute hand massages (experimental), 3 20-minute hand holdings (active control), or 3 20-minute rest periods (passive control). Pain intensity, unpleasantness, anxiety, muscle tension, and vital signs will be evaluated before, immediately after, and 30 minutes later for each intervention administered within 24 hours postoperatively. Peer-reviewed competitive funding was received from the Quebec Nursing Intervention Research Network and McGill University in December 2015, and research ethics approval was obtained February 2016.

Results

Recruitment started in April 2016, and data collection is expected to be complete by January 2017. To date, 24 patients were randomized and had data collection done.

Conclusions

This study will be one of the first randomized controlled trials to examine the effect of hand massage on the pain levels of critically ill patients after cardiac surgery and to provide empirical evidence for the use of massage among this population.

ClinicalTrial

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02679534; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02679534 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6l8Ly5eHS)