Prof. Hanan Gaber Mohammed Mahmoud :: Publications:

Postoperative pain is a major and recognized problem (Ferrara, 1998); (Carol et al., 1993) found that 80% of patients suffered moderate or intense pain after surgery even with the routine and seemingly adequate use of analgesics . The study aims to determine the effectiveness of relaxation technique on minimizing postoperative pain among surgical patients at Benha University Hospital. The study was conducted at the general surgical units Subjects in this study were all Egyptian adult male and female postoperative patients with different types of operation. ) and classified to 100 patients randomly assigned to two groups study and control groups. The study group include 50 postoperative patients who received relaxation technique with therapeutic sound (Quran or music), while the control group include 50 postoperative patients who received the routine hospital care without relaxation techniques. Four instrument were used to determine the effect of relaxation technique on minimizing post operative pain. First tool: pain assessment tools. It includes 3 parts, part I comprised the patients’ characteristics, age, sex, educational level…etc part II .initial assessment, it includes location with diagrams of he front, the back of the body a pattern of activity that causes or relieves pain as well as the factors Influence of pain on physical, psychological and mental symptoms. Part III includes University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) pain Behavior scale which developed by (Richard et al., 1982), this scale consists of 10 target behaviors; each of which contributes equally to the total score, hence a range of possible scores from 0 to 10 . Second tool: Visual analogue pain scale . The scoring system including measuring the intensity of pain, if the patient has no pain the score is (0) and if he had severe pain the score is (6). The following classification system for VAS is very widely used. Third tool: Relaxation techniques sheet. It developed by Julia M and Patrice, 1998 for the purpose of minimizing postoperative pain Fourth tool: Evaluation tools , it included measure vital signs as well as UAS and VAS scale pre and post relaxation technique in two shifts morning and afternoon for 3 consecutive days on discharge. The effectiveness of relaxation technique in the present study depend on its consistent practicing through postoperative periods (4 days) and the learning of relaxation technique the day before operation increased its effectiveness for the study group. The findings of present study revealed a significant difference of postoperative pulse and respiration rate between the two groups. Pulse and respiration were higher among the control group than the study one. This can be justified by the support given by the researcher to the study group preoperatively by explaining the effect of relaxation technique (p0.05). Regarding to patient’s postoperative body temperature, the present study showed no significant difference among the two groups (p0.05). Regarding to patients postoperative blood pressure the present study showed no significant difference among the two groups (p0.05). Also, among the study group, no evidence of significant difference of blood pressure pre and post relaxation was noted (p0.05). The present study showed significant change in pain behavior score after practicing relaxation technique. Present study showed that there were significant difference between the two groups regarding verbal and non verbal complaints, facial grimaces, standing posture, body language and stationary movement (p0.05). Based on the findings of the present study. Relaxation technique program and routine nursing intervention was recommended