The Effect of Self- care Education on the Control of Post Tonsillectomy Complications in 6 -12 years Old Children

Self- care, as an important pediatric nursing concept, enables parents and children for management of post-tonsillectomy complications. This study was aimed to determine the effect of self-care education on the control of post tonsillectomy complications in school-age children after discharge of Hamadan’s hospitals. In this clinical trial, 68 six to twelve year old children admitted to tw Hamadan’s hospitals for tonsillectomy were selected with one parent by convenience sampling and then were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (each 34 paired). For experimental group, individual training was carried out the night before surgery and telephone follow-up performed in the first three days after discharge. Data collecting tools included a demographic questionnaire, two checklists for pain (Numerical Rating Scale and Wong- Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale) and home events recording sheet. Data was analyzed by ANOVA with repeated measures, post-hoc tests, independent t- test and Chi-square test using SPSS-PC (v.16). Significant differences were observed in the mean scores of pain intensity (p<0.01), painful swallowing (p<0.01), the number of fluid intake (p<0/05), the number of analgesics used (p<0/001), and use of non-pharmacological pain reduction methods (p<0/001) between experimental and control group after discharge. No significant differences were seen between the groups in terms of the other behavioral changes, analgesic side-effects, body temperature and quality of night sleep, except for appetite (p<0/05). Self-care education to children and their parents was effective in the control of common postoperative tonsillectomy complications at home. Accordingly, it is suggested to further study the effect of self-care education on long-term complications of tonsillectomy in children, and to empower parents to control pain and complications after other outpatient surgeries.