Assessment of Effectiveness of Hot Fomentation Versus Cold Compress for Reducing Intravenous Infiltration

In hospital practice, intravascular lines are used for various purpose for recording pressures and to administer drugs and fluids. A common problem encountered in intravenous fluid administration is the infiltration of the fluids into tissues near the point of entry of the catheter into the veins or arteries. Infiltration is due to patient movement and disruption of the vein or artery at the site of insertion of the catheter. This may lead to discoloration, discomfort and tissue destruction as well as lack of delivery of the intravenous fluids on drugs into the patient's system. This results in an inflammatory reaction, which is manifested as pain, swelling and erythema. ^{1 & 2}

A comparative study was done among conveniently selected 46 hospitalized patients. The setting of the study was in patient department of medicine and surgery ward in Hi-Tech medical college and Hospital, Bhubaneswar Orissa. The research design used was quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design. Convenient sampling technique was used. Data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics. The pretest and posttest findings shows that hot fomentation and cold compress both are effective but hot fomentation is slightly better than cold compress in the treatment of intravenous therapy related infiltration. Again the standardized infiltration scale shows that 18(36%) had mild degree infiltration and 28(56%) had moderate degree of infiltration.