Comparison of pain intensity of males and females postoperative patients using Visual Analogue Scale
Riama Marlyn Sihombing, Juhdeliena
Faculty of Nursing
Universitas Pelita Harapan Jakarta, Indonesia
Abstract
Background: Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience related to both actual and potential tissue damage. Uncontrolled pain had a negative impact on postoperative recovery, complications, poor quality of life and the risk of prolonged pain. Postoperative pain were subjective and can be influenced by gender. Visual analogue scale was a pain assessment tools that can be used to evaluation of postoperative pain. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare pain intensity of male and female postoperative patients using visual analogue scale. Methods: This study applied a observational analytic design with a cross-sectional approach. The sample included 89 postoperative patients who admitted to surgical ward were determined by purposive-sampling. Data was collected using observation sheet using visual analogue scale were evaluated for pain intensity within 24 hours after surgery which 3 times observation. Results: This study demonstrated that more than a half (60.70%) respondent were females. Mean visual analogue scale at 8 hours after surgery was 55.13 mm while mean visual analogue scale at 16 hours and 24 hours after surgery was 37.75 mm and 21.56 mm respectively. Using Mann-Whitney analysis, we found that none of the observation had significant difference correlation between visual analogue scale and gender. Conclusion: This study reflects that gender has no contributes to postoperative pain. According to this study it is recommended to evaluate the another factors that influence postoperative pain using visual analogue scale
Keywords: postoperative pain, visual analogue scale, gender
Topic: Health Technology and Medical Treatment