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Nurse Initiated Acupressure for Pain Management

Wake Forest University (WFU) logo

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

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.

Trial documents
2

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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