Nursing intervention using healing touch in total knee replacement: A randomized controlled study protocol

Abstract

Objective:: To assess the efficacy of healing touch (HT) for reducing pain and promoting wound healing in patients undergoing total knee replacement (TKR).

Method:: The experiment will be implemented from December 2020 to December 2021 and was granted through the Research Ethics Committee of Huaihua First People's Hospital (3928/823). 60 patients are included in the study. The recruitment criteria of patients includes:

1. 1.

   the willingness and ability to finish the anxiety and pain questionnaires;

2. 2.

   the clinical indication of TKR on the basis of medical history and physical examination; and

3. 3.

   above the age of 60 years.

The exclusionary criteria includes

1. 1.

   unable to cooperate with the postoperative evaluation and treatment;

2. 2.

   revision of TKR;

3. 3.

   diagnosis of the rheumatoid arthritis; and

4. 4.

   having surgical complications.

The measurement of pain is conducted by the visual analog scale, while the levels of anxiety is measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. For all data, they are analyzed through using the software of IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).

Results:: Table 1 indicates the comparison of clinical outcomes between the control group and study group.

Conclusion:: HT appears to reduce the postoperative pain and improve patient satisfaction after TKR.