The Efficacy of an Intervention Program for Pain Intensity Reduction in Patients Undergoing Arterial Sheath Removal after Coronary Artery Angioplasty

Pain management after sheath removal is one of the most significant points in patient care. The use of a simple, practical, and combined method in this field is essential. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention program for pain intensity reduction in patients undergoing arterial sheath removal after coronary artery angioplasty.

This semi-experimental study was conducted in 2020 on 90 eligible patients selected via the purpose-based method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The intervention program for the experimental group included training to relax the abdominal muscles, deep and slow breathing, and precise pressure on the femoral pulse. Pain intensity was measured before, during, and several times after arterial sheath removal. The independent t, Fisher exact, and χ2 tests were used to analyze the data.

Women comprised 66.6% of the study participants, who had a mean age of 58.20±8.70 years. No significant differences were observed concerning pain intensity, bleeding, pseudoaneurysm formation, and hematoma between the 2 groups before the intervention (P=0.531). However, during the intervention and in the fifth and tenth minutes after the intervention, pain intensity was lower in the experimental group (P<0.050), whereas no such differences were observed regarding bleeding, pseudoaneurysm formation, and hematoma.

Given the effectiveness of our intervention program in ameliorating pain intensity and vasovagal response after arterial sheath removal, we suggest that this program, along with prescription drugs, be used for the management of patients’ pain.