Pain Behaviour of Critically Ill Patients on Mechanical Ventilation During Nursing Interventions at Governmental Hospitals-Sana'a-Yemen.

Abstract

Background: Pain is a common experience among mechanically ventilated patients. Pain among mechanically ventilated patients is aggravated by factors such as stage of illness, invasive procedures, and surgical interventions.

Objectives: To examine the pain behavior of patients on mechanical ventilation during nursing interventions.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Data were collected from 150 mechanically ventilated patients at government hospitals at Sana'a City-Yemen. Pain was evaluated before and during the nursing interventions via the "Ramsay Sedation Scale" and "Behavioral Pain Scale". The difference between pain level and hemodynamic parameters before and during the procedure was assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. A p value of 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.

Results: The interventions that resulted in differences in pain scores were bed bathing, tracheal suction, oropharyngeal suction, nasogastric intubation, oral care, repositioning, perineum care, and intravenous cateterización through fluctuations all physiological parameters during these procedures.

Conclusion: Patients on mechanical ventilation feel pain before and during nursing intervention. In fact, harmless and comforting operations can injure patients. Nurses practice must take care-related suffering linked with their interventions into consideration while caring for critically sick nonverbal patients. It might be useful to use changes in vital signs as the main indicator of pain.