The Effectiveness of Acupressure on Reducing Pain and Improving Gastrointestinal Function After Laparoscopic Surgery

Explore the Effectiveness of Acupressure on Reducing Pain and Improving Gastrointestinal Function of Patients After Laparoscopic Surgery

The purpose of the study is to explore the effect if acupressure reducing pain after laparoscopic surgery. The study is designed as an experimental research with repeat measurement design. The patients who are eligible for laparoscopic for general surgery and colorectal surgery in a medical center in the central part of Taiwan. The intervention of the research starts from the first date of postoperative day and the patient has the postoperative pain. The participant will be randomized into experimental group and control group. These two groups will be given true acupressure and sham acupressure twice daily. The participant will be observation the postoperative pain and postoperative recovery.

Laparoscopic is increasing in this decade. The surgical trauma caused postoperative pain which cannot be avoid. It is the significant challenge and the thorny issue of the healthcare providers, also, be discussed for many decades. Several clinical researches have been verified acupuncture and related method have been as adjuvant efficacy treatment for decreasing postoperative pain. Acupressure is the method of the thumb put acupoint, and therapeutic effectiveness is similar to acupuncture. Acupressure is allowed to a nurse work independently due to noninvasive treatment. However, the less of the clinical studies explore the efficacy of acupressure reducing the postoperative pain after laparoscopic. The result of the research will provide the efficacy of reducing postoperative laparoscopic pain and wish to improve the quality of care.

Inclusion Criteria:

• laparoscopic surgery on the organ of liver, gastric, small intestine, colon under general anaethesia
• the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) :I - III
• above 20 years old
• the state of consciousness is alert
• Chinese or Taiwanese speaker

Exclusion Criteria:

• surgical procedure: resection, low anterior resection, Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy)
• postoperative length of hospital stay less than 3 days
• patient have pregnant, maternity, breastfeeding, chronic pain history, coagulation disorder or skin injury on the acupoints.
• drug abuse, alcoholism
• Patient-controlled analgesia