The Effect of Implementing Therapeutic Communication Plan on Burned Patient's Pain

Pain in burned patients is not only caused by damage to joints and tissues but it is also affected by a variety of reasons that can not be ignored. A number of studies indicate that implementing different supportive approaches could affect pain severity through reduction of fear and anxiety of the patients. Hence, the present study was conducted in order to study the effect of therapeutic communication plan on pain severity in burned patients in Mashhad during 2004. In this quasi-experimental study 60 female burned patients were investigated in two groups of treatment and control. The control and case patients were identical in terms of age, burning agent, and burn surface area. Data collecting tools were patient's demographic information and linear pain scale. For each group pain measurement was carried out once at the beginning of study (48 to 72 hours following the burn) and then once a week for a month (average five times) immediately after dressing. Type, time and amount of sedative and analgesic drugs were recorded each time. For treatment group 7 to 12 therapeutic communication sessions (20 to 45 minutes) were held within four stages. The amount of pain was measured and compared in each group before intervention (the first week), within intervention (during three weeks) and after intervention (the fourth week). Data analysis was performed through Mann- Whitney and X 2 tests. The results showed that there was significant difference between pain severity in two groups after intervention (P=0.005) so that before in1tervention 36.7% of the patients suffered from severe pain, whereas after intervention none of the patients had this type of pain. Moreover, the number of patients suffering from extremely severe pain (36.7%) declined to 16.7% after intervention. The study results indicate that implementation of therapeutic communication plan affects pain severity of burned patients. Hence, we recommend the application of the plan in burned patient care. More research is also suggested.