An evaluation of a sensory stimulation technique as a therapeutic tool in the prevention of postoperative pulmonary complications

The purpose of this research was to attempt to determine the clinical effectiveness of a sensory stimulation technique on the prevention of pulmonary complications in postoperative patients. The sensory stimulation technique was evaluated in terras of the number of coughs in the experimental group contrasted with the number of coughs in a control group. The technique employed was one of applying ice (in group) to both sides of the spinous processes from the first through the twelfth thoracic nerves. This activity is presumed to induce a cough, which, if effective (either diaphragmatic or productive), will clear the respiratory passages of foreign material and mucous ano will dilate the bronchioles, thus preventing atelectasis or pneumonitis. Therefore, if the technique induced an effective cough and atelectasis or pneumonitis were prevented, measurements of atelectasis or pneumonitis should have been seen less often in the experimental group than in the control group. It was beyond the scope of this thesis and the means of this investigator to obtain a consistent evaluation for atelectasis or pneumonitis in the study population. The presence or absence of fever in the study population was used as a specific measurement on the determination of atelectasis or pneumonitis, while one cannot state that fever following surgery is invariably related to pulmonary pathology as there are many variables influencing temperature variation, it is common. Fever as used in this study is defined as any temperature above 100 degrees Fahrenheit recorded orally. This was done to offset minor variations in temperature that might occur from mild dehydration or from diurnal differences.