A randomized controlled trial of reflexology effect after abdominal surgery on patient satisfaction, pain and vital signs

Objective: In our study, we investigated the effect of reflexology on patient satisfaction, pain and vital signs after abdominal surgery. Method: This study was conducted as a randomized controlled trial with the participation of 156 abdominal surgery patients hospitalized in the general surgery unit of a training and research hospital. Personal Information Form, Visual Analogue Scale and Newcastle Nursing Care Satisfaction Scale were used in data collection. We performed the data analysis with One-way analysis of variance, Chi-squared test, paired samples t-test, and independent samples t-test. Results: When the pain, vital signs and satisfaction levels of the experimental and control groups were compared, the pain intensity of the experimental group was found to be lower and the level of satisfaction was higher after reflexology (p<0.01). After reflexology, the blood pressure was closer to 120/80 in the experimental group, the respiratory rate was between 16-22 (number/minute), the difference between the experimental and control groups were statistically significant (p<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference between the pulce oximetry values between the experimental and control groups. Conclusion: Surgical pain and non-optimal vital signs that are not well managed after surgery causes various complications and decrease patient satisfaction. The results of our study emphasize the power of reflexology in effective surgical pain management and normalizing vital signs and increasing patient satisfaction. We suggest that reflexology be performed to patients following abdominal surgery.