Effects of a Heating Compress on Self-reported Sore Throat following Endotracheal Intubation for Anesthesia
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the heating compress on self-reported sore throat following endotracheal intubation. The null hypothesis stated that a heating compress to the throat would have no significant (alpha = 0.05) effect on the reduction of self-reported postoperative sore throat following endotracheal intubation for anesthesia. A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental research design was implemented in the study. Subjects who met the criteria for the study were divided randomly into an experimental and control group by coin toss. The data were analyzed for differences between the groups at the 0.05 level of significance. Frequency distributions, means, and standard deviation were determined for classificatory variables, chi-square formula was applied to determine whether the presence or absence of sore throat was dependent upon age, sex, smoking habits, use of nasogastric tube, and site of operation, and to compare the degree The of soreness and change in level of soreness. Ninety-nine subjects were admitted to the study; 25 subjects were discontinued from the study at the time of the first post-extubation interview. Seventy-four subjects completed the first post-extubation interview. Forty (54.1 percent) of the 74 subjects reported sore throat. The relationships between sore throat and the classificatory variables were studied with 74 subjects. Statistical analysis revealed that sore throat was significantly related to the subject's sex (p = 0.0118), the use of a nasogastric tube (p = 0.0045), and the site of operation (p = 0.0013). Thirty-four of 74 subjects did not experience sore throat and were discontinued in the study. Further, 12 of the 40 were discontinued prior to the second post-extubation interview. Twenty-eight subjects completed the study which included 13 in the experimental group and 15 in the control group. The null hypothesis was tested with the 28 subjects. Statistical analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups (p>0.25) and the null hypothesis was accepted. The sample was a convenience sample randomized into experimental and control groups. There was a high rate of discontinuance from the study; only 28 subjects completed. The findings therefore cannot be generalized beyond the subjects studied. There was a trend toward a decrease of the severity of sore throat in the experimental group compared to the control group. Subjects verbalized satisfaction with use of the heating compress and its effect toward decreasing the severity of sore throat. A heating compress is a simple treatment, inexpensive, and easily applied. It is recommended that nurses use this simple treatment for the comfort and relief of postoperative sore throat.
Nursing, Rehabilitation and Therapy, Heat -- therapeutic use; Pharyngitis; Intubation, Intratracheal
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