The Effectiveness of Tens (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) in Reducing Pain during Replacing the Dressing in Hospitalized Patients in Burn Center of Sabzevar

Background and aim: A burning pain is considered among the most painful conditions experienced by burn patients, specifically, during changing the wound dressing. By using complementary therapies such as aromatherapy, hypnosis, music therapy, acupressure, TENS is considered as nurses’ serious tasks and has special importance in pain controlling of patients. This study was accomplished to consider the effect of electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) through skin during replacing the wound dressing in hospitalized burn patients in burn ward of Sabzevar Vasee hospital. Materials and methods: This is a clinical trial study performed on 40 hospitalized burn patients of Sabzevar Vasee hospital in 2014. The patients were divided randomly into two groups, including control category (20 individuals) and case one (20 individuals). Before changing the wound dressing, morphine was injected to the patient, and in the second days after referral, the members of control group received placebo TENS with morphine, and TENS was received in the members of test group while replacing the dressing. Finally, after replacing the dressing, the pain of patient was measured according to pain numeric scale 0-10. The data was analyzed with Mann-Whitney tests by SPSS software (ver. 20). The significance level (p-value) in statistical tests used in this study is considered 5%. Results: The average of pain in second day was 7.00 ± 0.56 and 5.00 ± 0.48 in control and test groups, respectively. There was a significant difference in reduction of the pain between two groups (P=0.013). It means that TENS can alleviate the pain 2.3 units more than placebo TENS. Conclusion: Supplementary TENS and morphine are effective in reducing the pain in burn patients during replacing the bandage.