Investigation of thy effect of breathing exercise on invasive pain associated with arteriovenous fistula cannulation in hemodialysis patient

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine long-term breathing exercise imaging on invasive pain experienced during arteriovenous fistula (AVF) cannulation in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Metarial and Method: This randomized controlled, single-blind design study was conducted in a private dialysis center in Istanbul between the dates of November 2021 - April 2022. The patients in the intervention group were made to perform breathing exercises before fistula cannulation during 12 HD sessions. Before the dialysis nurse performed the cannulation procedure, the researcher instructed the patient to perform a breathing exercise, and after making an attempt on the vein for cannulation, the exercise was completed. The patients in the control group did not receive any intervention. Pain was assessed by an independent nurse from the study with the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Data were statistical analyzed using; Mann-Whitney U Test, Chi-Square Test, Fisher's Exact Test, Friedman Test were used. Results: The study was completed with 59 patients in the intervention group and 53 patients in the control group. It was found that the VAS scores of the patients in the intervention group from the first measurement to the twelfth measurement were statistically significantly lower compared to the patients in the control group (p<0.001). Conclusions: It was found that the breathing exercise performed before cannulation in AVF reduced the pain experienced during cannulation application. Keywords: Breathing exercise, dialysis, arteriovenous fistula, pain, nursing.