Effect of foot reflexology on pain, anxiety and patient satisfaction in patients who had open heart surgery

The study was planned as an interventional study in order to review the effect of foot reflexology upon pain, anxiety and patient satisfaction among open heart surgery patients. The study was undertaken with 70 patients -35 patients assigned to the control group vs. 35 patients assigned to the experimental group- who had open heart surgery at the Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University Research and Training Hospital under State Hospitals Union located in the city center of Rize Province between March and August 2016. The data were collected by the researcher using "Patient Information Form", "State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-STAI", "Visual Analog Scale" and "Visual Analog Patient Satisfaction Scale" through face to face interview technique. To the patients in the experimental and the control groups; "Patient Information Form", "STAI", "Visual Analog Scale" were administered on the second post-surgery day. The patients in the experimental group received foot reflexology on the second, third and fourth postsurgery days while the patients in the control group did not receive foot reflexology. It was identified in the study that there was a statistically significant decrease in mean scores of "Visual Analog Scale" of the patients in the experimental group as compared to the patients in the control group (p<0.05). Although no statistically significant difference was detected between the mean scores of "STAI" and "Visual Analog Patient Satisfaction Scale" among the the patients in the experimental group and the control group (p>0.05); it was seen that both groups were rather pleased. The study results may be used as a guide in reducing pain and anxiety experienced by patients during post-surgery period and in elevating patient satisfaction.