The assessment of changing position on blood pressure and heart rate after angiography

Restriction of patients to bed after coronary angiography to minimize the complications is accompanied by low back pain, which as a stress cause increases in heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP). The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of changing patients’ position on heart rate, average arterial pressure, hemorrhage and haematoma formation. Using a semi-experimental method and convenient sampling, patients were assigned randomly to experimental (35 subject) and control (36 subject) groups. The experimental group was managed with modified positioning while the control group with routine protocol. HR, BP, bleeding and haematoma were measured in different time intervals after angiography. The experimental group had significantly lower heart rate and blood pressure in about 6 to 8 hours after angiography (P<0.05). The new method for patient positioning produced no significant increase in hemorrhage and haematoma when compared with control group. Modified positioning after coronary angiography is practical and associated with stability of heart rate and blood pressure, and without increase in hemorrhage and haematoma chances