Effects of abdominal massage and in-bed exercise on gastrointestinal complications and patient comfort in intensive care patients eating enterally

Aim: This study was carried out to determine the effects of abdominal massage and in-bed exercise on gastrointestinal complications and patient comfort in enterally fed intensive care patients. Material and Method: The study was conducted in a randomized controlled manner with enteral fed patients in the internal intensive care units of Diyarbakır Gazi Yaşargil Training and Research Hospital and Dicle University Faculty of Medicine between May 2021 and July 2022. The sample consisted of 130 patients randomly assigned to the abdominal massage group (n=44), in-bed exercise group (n=43) and control group (n=43). Demographic Characteristics Form, Enteral Nutrition Monitoring Form, Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale, Intensive Care Pain Observation Scale and Comfort Behaviors Checklist were used to collect data. Interventions were performed by the researcher every morning for 3 days before enteral feeding. GIS complications and comfort levels of the patients were determined 24 hours after each intervention. Results: In the comparison of the experimental and control groups within and between groups, the differences in abdominal distention, defecation status, constipation and GRV complications were significant (p<0.05), while no significant difference was found in diarrhea and vomiting (p>0.05). While there was a statistically significant difference between the pre-test and post-test measurements in the intra-group abdominal massage and in-bed exercise groups in the comfort level (p<0.05), no significant difference was found in the control group (p>0.05), and the comparison between the groups in the post-test measurements was found to be statistically significant ( p<0.05). Conclusion: Abdominal massage and in-bed exercise; It was determined that it decreased abdominal distention, constipation, gastric residual volume, blood glucose level over time, did not make any difference in vomiting and diarrhea, abdominal massage affected defecation status and both interventions decreased pain level over time and increased comfort. Key Words: Abdominal massage, Enteral nutrition, Comfort, In-bed exercise, Intensive care.