NCT04044716

Nurse Initiated Acupressure for Pain Management

Nurse Initiated Auricular Acupressure for Post-operative Pain Management in Knee and Hip Arthroplasty Patients

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 65 (actual)
• Sponsor: Wake Forest University Health Sciences · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 80 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of pilot study is to test the feasibility of nurse initiated post-operative bilateral auricular acupressure as an adjunct to medication for post-operative pain management.

Detailed description

Postoperative pain management has become an area of concern over the last decade due to the opioid epidemic and concerns related to their use as the primary pain management strategy. Joint Commission requires that hospitals have additional pain non-pharmacologic pain management tools at their disposal to an effort decrease the reliance on opioids. Acupuncture and acupressure have been used for centuries in the management of a variety of disorders including pain. Unlike acupuncture, acupressure can be easily applied with limited training and is within the scope of practice for nurses, according to the North Carolina Board of Nursing. Thus evidence based non-pharmacologic strategies that can be deployed by nursing are of benefit to hospital organizations.

Conditions

• Pain, Postoperative
• Pain, Acute

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Auricular acupressure	Trained nurses in auricular acupressure will place acupressure beads on 5 acupoints on each ear (cingulate gyrus, thalamus, omega-2, point zero, and Shen Men). The nurse will do the initial activation of the acupressure site by applying pressure for 30 seconds to each point until the participant reports tingling or moderate degree of pressure. Participant will be given instructions to do this three times a day for a total of 5 days. Acupoints were selected based on recommendation of faculty acupuncturist.
OTHER	Standard of care pain management	The participant post-operative pain will be managed following the standard protocol by the treating physician.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-12-31
• Primary completion: 2021-10-04
• Completion: 2021-10-04
• First posted: 2019-08-05
• Last updated: 2022-12-07
• Results posted: 2022-12-07

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States

Regulatory

• FDA-regulated device study