The Effect of Breathing Exercise With Incentive Spirometer on Pain, Anxiety, Comfort, and Physiological Parameters Before and After Cardiac Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Experimental Study.

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the effect of breathing exercise with incentive spirometer on pain, anxiety, comfort, and physiological parameters in cardiac surgery patients before and after surgery.

Design: The research was conducted as a single-center, prospective, randomized controlled experimental study.

Methods: Patients in the intervention I group had breathing exercises performed, in addition to the routine practices of the clinic for 5 days after surgery. Patients in intervention II group had breathing exercises in addition to routine practices for 5 days before surgery and 5 days after surgery. In the control group, only the routine practice of the clinic was performed.

Findings: On postoperative days 1 and 5, the pain and anxiety levels of the intervention I and II groups were significantly lower, and the comfort level was significantly higher than the control group. On the post-op first day, partial oxygen pressure values of the patients in the intervention II group were significantly higher than the others. The heart rate of the individuals in the intervention I group on the first post-op day was significantly lower than the other two groups. Post-op days 1 and 5, SaO2 values were significantly higher in the intervention groups compared with the control group.

Conclusions: Breathing exercises performed with incentive spirometer before and after the operation decreased the pain and anxiety levels of the patients and increased their comfort. However, it was determined that this application did not create a significant difference in vital signs (except heart rate), pulmonary function test values (except SaO2), and arterial blood gas values (except partial oxygen pressure).