Effect of Foot Bath on Pain, Anxiety, Sleep and Comfort Level

Nurses play an important role in patients; pain management during the peroperative period. In this process, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, opioids, patient-controlled analgesia and local anesthetics can be used pharmacologically in pain management. However, it has been reported in the literature that using pharmacological and non-pharmacological applications together in pain management has better positive effects on the patient. Hot application, cold application, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, massage, reiki, music therapy, aromatherapy are some of the non-pharmacological applications used to relieve pain in the postoperative period.

Hot application is one of the effective, cheap and easy-to-use non-pharmacological methods in relieving pain. Hot applications can be made as dry hot, local wet and general wet applications. Foot bath with hot water is one of the non-pharmacological methods that nurses can apply to relieve post-operative patients; pain, reduce anxiety and stress levels, relax muscles and improve sleep quality. There are studies in the literature showing that heat application reduces pain levels and improves sleep quality in different patient groups. In the study of Aghamohammadi et al., it was found that a 20-minute hot foot bath applied to women in menopause improved sleep quality. In the study of Han et al., it was found that hot foot bath with aromatherapy applied to patients with edema in the lower extremities significantly reduced pain and edema. In the study of Soonyoung and Myoungjin, it was determined that hot water foot bath applied to patients who underwent hand replantation reduced the pain of the patients. In another study, hand and foot baths after cesarean section were effective in reducing the pain of patients. When the literature was examined, no study was found examining the effect of hot foot bath on anxiety, pain, sleep and comfort levels after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. In this context, this study was planned and conducted to determine the effect of hot foot bath on pain, anxiety, sleep and comfort levels in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Inclusion criteria

• 18 years of age or older
• Patients did not have any psychological disorders, cancer, hypertension or heart disease and did not use any medication related to these diseases
• Patients used the same type of analgesic for pain control in the postoperative period,
• Patients had a VAS pain level of 4 or above, had no foot pain
• Patients who did not have wounds, infections or infectious diseases
• Patients who did not develop any complications before, during and after surgery were

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who developed any complications before, during or after surgery
• Patients who had drains were not included in the study.