20-DEGREE ELEVATION TO REDUCE SWELLING AND PAIN AFTER LOWER EXTREMITY OPEN REDUCTION AND INTERNAL FIXATION SURGERY

Surgery for open reduction and internal fixation(ORIF)causes tissue swelling andpain in the surgical area. Swelling and pain can be reduced by performingdistal elevation in the area ofsurgicalORIF. Thisstudy aimedto determine the effect of a 20°elevation on swelling and painlevelofpatients after surgery for ORIFof the lowerextremities. Aquasi-experi-mental design with one intervention group(pretest and posttest)and one control group was implemented. Thirty-fourpost-operative ORIF patients treated in one hospital in South Sumateramet the inclusion criteria and were dividedinto intervention and control groups. Swelling circumference was measured using tape meters,and pain level was assessedwith anumeric rating scale. Dependent t-test, independent t-test, and Pearson correlationwere applied for data analysis. Results showed that the average difference in swelling circumference and pain level between pre and post intervention was 1.93 ± 0.25 and1.29 ± 0.35, respectively. Significant differences were found in the mean swelling circumference and pain level between the intervention andcontrol groups(p=0.000). Therefore a 20° elevationof lower extremity on the second day after ORIF for twodays can be an alternative for nursing intervention to reduceswelling and pain.