The effect of hand massage after pulmonary operation on pain and life findings

Objective: This study was conducted with the aim of determining the effects of hand massage to patients who had lung surgery on postoperative pain and life signs. Material-Method: The study which was carried out with a quasi-experimental design was conducted in the Thoracic Surgery Clinic of Gaziantep University Şahinbey Research and Application Hospital between March- December 2016. The population of study consisted of adult patients who had lung surgery at this clinic. The sample was selected using method of non-probability random sampling and comprised 34 experiment, 34 control. The Patient Information Form and the Numerical Evaluation Scale were used to collect data. All patients in the experiment group were given 20 minutes of hand massage. The observations on pain and life signs were made in the 5th, 30th, 60th and 90th minutes before and after massage for the experiment group, and again in the 5th, 30th, 60th and 90th minutes for the control group after waiting as long as the duration of the massage. Number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi-squared, independent samples t-test and analysis of variance in repeated measurements were used in the analyses of the data. Findings: It was observed that the severity of pain, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and respiration values were reduced significantly in comparison to the values before massage treatment, while there was no significant change in pulse values. While there was no significant change found in the severity of pain, pulse and respiration values of the patients in the control group, significant increase was observed in their systolic and diastolic blood pressure values. Conclusion: It was found that hand massage decreased post-operative severity of pain, blood pressure and respiration values, but it was not influential on pulse values. Keywords: Lung surgery, post-operative pain, hand massage, life signs.