effects of inhalation of lavender essential oil on open-heart surgery pain

this study evaluated the effects of inhalation of lavender essential oil on the pain of open-heart surgery. the main complaint of patients after open-heart surgery is chest pain. due to the side effects of opioids, it is important to use a non-invasive way to effectively relieve pain including aromatherapy with analgesics. this study is a clinical single-blind trial. the study was conducted on 40 patients who had open-heart surgery in the cardiac icu of two hospitals of tehran university of medical sciences, 2012. criteria included: full consciousness, spontaneous breathing ability and not using synthetic opioids within 2 hours before extubation. after extubation, the patients were asked to mark the intensity of their pain using the visual analogue scale. then, a cotton swab which was impregnated with 2 drops of lavender essential oil 2% was placed in their oxygen mask, and they got breath for 10 minutes. thirty minutes after aromatherapy, they were asked to re-mark their pain intensity. the level of patient’s pain before and after aromatherapy were compared. the pain mean level before and after inhaling lavender essential oil was 5.60 (sd= 2.262) and 4.98 (sd=2.293) ,respectively(p-value=0.1>0.05). therefore, there is no significant difference and the result of study proves that lavender essential oil inhalation has no effect on reducing the pain of open-heart surgery.