Nurse Initiated Acupressure for Pain Management

Wake Forest University (WFU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pain, Acute; Pain, Postoperative

Treatments: Device: Auricular acupressure; Other: Standard of care pain management

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04044716

IRB00057513

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of pilot study is to test the feasibility of nurse initiated post-operative bilateral auricular acupressure as an adjunct to medication for post-operative pain management.

Full description

Postoperative pain management has become an area of concern over the last decade due to the opioid epidemic and concerns related to their use as the primary pain management strategy. Joint Commission requires that hospitals have additional pain non-pharmacologic pain management tools at their disposal to an effort decrease the reliance on opioids. Acupuncture and acupressure have been used for centuries in the management of a variety of disorders including pain. Unlike acupuncture, acupressure can be easily applied with limited training and is within the scope of practice for nurses, according to the North Carolina Board of Nursing. Thus evidence based non-pharmacologic strategies that can be deployed by nursing are of benefit to hospital organizations.

Enrollment: 65 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults 18-80 admitted for knee or hip arthroplasty
• Pre-surgery morphine equivalent < 50
• American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score < 3

Exclusion criteria

• Participants with a history of skin disease (psoriasis), adhesive allergy, history of delirium, or cognitive impairment

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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65 participants in 3 patient groups

Auricular acupressure Group

Experimental group

Description:

The Auricular acupressure (AA) nurses will place the acupressure pellet pads on the participants in this group post-operatively.

Treatment:

Other: Standard of care pain management

Device: Auricular acupressure

Standard of care Group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Participants in this group will receive standard of care pain management by the treating physician.

Treatment:

Other: Standard of care pain management

Nurse Interventionists

No Intervention group

Description:

Nurses who were trained to apply the auricular acupressure pads/pellets in the the holding room prior to surgery.