Abstract
Aim. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of changing position on back pain after cardiac catheterization.
Background. Prolonged bed rest after coronary angiography produces back pain.
Methods. This was a quasi-experimental study conducted on 98 patients who had been admitted for coronary angiography in Shahid Beheshti Hospital of Kashan, Iran, in the year 2014. Patients were randomly allocated to intervention and control group. In this study, data collection form consisted of three sections including demographic information, numerical pain scale, and bleeding and hematoma control checklist. Patients in the control group received routine care after coronary angiography including bed rest for 6 hours without movement of effected limb. However, patients’ position in the intervention group was intermittently changed during the first 6 hours after catheterization. Patients in the intervention and control group were assessed in terms of severity of pain, and bleeding and hematoma, immediately after moving to the ward, and then two, four and six hours after angiography. The data were analyzed in SPSS version 11.5 using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Findings. The result showed that there were statistically significant differences between the intervention and control group in terms of mean score of back pain immediately after moving to the ward (p≤0.0001), and 4 hours (p≤0.0001) and 6 hours (p≤0.0001) after angiography.
Conclusion. In this study, changing position of patients after angiography reduced back pain in patients without causing any complication like hematoma and bleeding; therefore, it can be concluded that applying this intervention could be considered as a convenient way to relieve back pain in patients after coronary angiography.