the effect of applying cold gel pack on the anxiety of sternal incision associated with deep breathing and coughing in cardiac surgery patients

the effect of applying cold gel pack on the anxiety of sternal incision associated with deep breathing and coughing in cardiac surgery patients    khalkhali hr [1] , ebrahimi rigi z [2] , feizi a * [3] , salehi sh [4] , salmanzadeh hr [5] , bazdar p [6]     received: 26 feb, 2013 accepted: 13 may, 2013    abstract  background & aims : coughing & deep breathing after sternotomy is along with high levels of anxiety, that it can be followed by adverse consequences in patients after open heart surgery. so this study was conducted to assess the impact of cold therapy on the anxiety in patients undergoing open heart surgery.   materials & methods : in this clinical trial study, 50 eligible and consenting patients were recruited and randomly allocated to intervention and control group. the data were gathered through state–trait anxiety inventory (stai). data were analyzed using the t test.  results: the results of this study showed that the use of cold gel pack leads to the reduction of the mean of anxiety score in the intervention group (p=0.02).  conclusion: this study demonstrates that cold therapy can be effective on anxiety of sternal incision in deep breathing and coughing.  key words: cold gel pack, open heart surgery, anxiety, pain of sternal incision     address: nursing and midwifery faculty, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran   tel: (+98) 441 2754961   email : [email protected]   [1] phd of biostatistics, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran  [2] nursing msc student, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran  [3] assistant professor, nursing and midwifery faculty, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran (corresponding author)*  [4] specialist in heart surgery, urmia university of medical sciences, urmia, iran  [5] bsc in nursing, emam khomeiny hospital, urmia, iran  [6] bsc in nursing, seyyed-o-alshohada hospital, urmia, iran