Coronary Artery By-Pass Surgery -Nurses’ Interventions in Post-operative Pain Management

Abstract

Coronary artery by-pass graft (CABG) comes under the most common surgery done all over the world. This surgery includes incisions made by the surgeons, which causes tissue and nerves damage, causes inflammation and pain. Postoperative pain is an inevitable consequence of almost all surgeries. Effective pain management is necessary because it can influence vitals of the patients, can lead to complication, and delay recovery. The aim of this study is to enhance the knowledge among nurses to effectively improve patient outcome about postoperative pain management after coronary artery bypass surgery. The scoping review was used as the study methodology and Katherine Kolcabas’ theory of comfort has been chosen as a theoretical framework. There were 12 articles in total, which were reviewed for the result. There were three categories made: pain assessment tools, pharmacological intervention and non-pharmacological intervention. The result includes pain assessment tools, nurses' role in pain assessment and administration of pain medicine, non pharmacological interventions include use of eye mask, music, body positioning, rhythmic breathing and aloe vera gel. As a conclusion, all of these interventions were able to effectively lower postoperative pain and improved patient outcome in CABG patients. As there was lack of studies discovered related to this topic of CABG and nurses’ intervention in postoperative pain management, more studies are suggested, especially nurses’ role in postoperative pain management among CABG patients.