Dry cold application on pain and ecchymosis among patients receiving low molecular weight heparin

Objective: Anticoagulation has proved to be an important treatment modality in preventing thrombus formation. Local side effects of heparin injection include pain, erythema and ecchymosis. Role of nurse is. Strategic measures to be designed to minimize the local side effects during the administration of heparin. Hence the study was conducted with objective to determine the effectiveness of dry cold application on pain and ecchymosis. Methods: Post-test only research design was adopted to conduct the study with 60 samples who met the inclusion criteria and samples were randomly allocated into experimental group (n=30) and control group (n=30). The demographic variables were collected at the beginning of the study. Experimental group received dry cold application for 3 minutes on the heparin injection site before the administration of heparin injection whereas control group received the routine care. Level of pain was assessed immediately after withdrawing the needle, 4 hours and 8 hours by using numerical pain rating scale and ecchymosis was assessed 48 hours and 72 hours after the administration of injection by using transparent ruler scale for both experimental and control group. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical package. Results: There was a significant difference was observed in the level of pain in all post-tests at the level of p<0.001 between the experimental and control group after the intervention but there was no difference was found in the size of ecchymosis both within experimental group and between the experimental and control group statistically. Conclusion: The findings of the study concluded that dry cold application is effective in reducing the level of pain and size of ecchymosis among patients receiving heparin injection.