The effect of acupressure on the quality of sleep in patients with acute coronary syndrome in CCU

Many patients hospitalized in CCU experience reduced quality of sleep. One of the methods for treating sleep disorders is using complementary medicine such as acupressure. The purpose of this study is “investigating the effect of acupressure on the quality of sleep in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) in CCU”. This is a two-group double blind clinical trial study which was conducted on 60 patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) in Mazandaran Heart Center in 2013. Samples were selected from statistical available population and were randomly assigned in two groups. The group of acupressure received bilateral acupoint massage from the second night of hospitalization for two minutes during three nights، in every point it was totally 18 minutes. Patients in the control group received massage on these points with the same technique and time with 1-1/5 cm distance from the main points. The quality of patients’ sleep was completed with SMHSQ hospital sleep questionnaire. Findings were analyzed by SPSS 18 statistical software and K2، independent test، ANOVA (analysis of variance) repeated measures statistical tests. There was significant difference between sleep quality of the patients in acupressure group and control group which was also statistically significant (p <0. 05). This study showed that acupressure can have therapeutic effect in improving quality of sleep in ACS patients. Therefore this method can be taught to nurses who have an important role in the identification and elimination of patients’ sleep disorder and also it should be taught to the patients themselves and their companions.