Pain is an unpleasant sensation that can cause physical and psychological problems for the patient. Despite the pharmacological intervention for reducing pain, it remains as an issue after surgery. Music therapy as non-pharmacological intervention can effect post-operative pain and patients’ requirement of analgesics. The purpose of this study was to determine effect of music therapy on pain after elective total knee replacement (TKR) surgery. This study compared analgesics consumption by patients post-operatively for five days. A Quasi-experimental design with convenience sample of patient with a mean of 64.35 (49-76) who underwent TKR in UKM Medical Centre from May to December 2012 was used. Forty patients were randomly assigned in one of the two groups using a sealed-envelope technique. The experimental group listened to music for five days post-operatively and were on analgesics and control group were treated with pharmacological intervention only. Pain was measured by McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form (MPQ-SF) for patient on bed rest on day one, day three and day five post-operatively. Statistical (Mann- Whitney) findings between groups showed the experimental group significantly had less pain on day one and day five rather than the control group at 0.05 level using Pain Rating Intensity (PRI), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Present Pain Intensity (PPI). Statistical (Friedman) tests within group showed that the patient had significantly decreased pain over time at level 0.05 using PRI, VAS and PPI. Statistical (Mann- Whitney) tests revealed that there was no significant difference when using analgesics between the two groups in five days post-operatively at milligram but comparing median showed experimental group used less analgesic than control group. Music therapy is simple, available, save and cheap effective intervention for pain management post-operatively. Pain management is one of the key roles of nursing and nurses can use music therapy as a simple intervention to reduce pain.
The working environment of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses is a constant source of stress. Researchers have described ICU as a stressful environment because of the complex nature of patients’ health problems requiring an extensive use of very sophisticated technology. This study aimed to identify the prevalence of stress among staff nurses working in ICU, Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (HUKM), factors influencing stress and to explore the symptoms of stress experienced. This descriptive study was conducted on 67 staff nurses working in ICU, HUKM. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires included sections on socio-demographic data, factors influencing stress and symptoms of stress experienced. Data was analyzed using frequency and percentage. The Chi square test was used to examine the relationship between socio-demographic data and factors influencing stress. Findings indicated that stress symptoms were experienced by 100 per cent (n =67) of staff nurses Knowledge, working experience, critically ill patients, and environmental factors were one of the many factors contributing to the stress experienced by the ICU nurses in HUKM. Nurses working in ICU, HUKM are found to have a high level of stress. Recommendations like encouraging ICU nurses to take up post basic ICU courses and increasing the nurses quota can reduce the prevalence of stress among ICU nurses. Hospital management has an important role to play in reducing the stress levels of nurses working in ICU as stress has an effect on job performance and quality of nursing care.
Home Care Nursing Program (HCNP) at HUKM was started in 1998 and evaluation of the program was required. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of HCNP on stroke rehabilitation at HUKM. A retrospective study using a matched pair design involving 69 stroke patients admitted to HUKM from August 1998 to December 2000 was carried out. The participants of this study were the HCNP group (n=35), and Non- HCNP (n=34). The matching was based on five criteria; age, sex, race, data of admission and severity of disability. The HCNP group was identified through data at the HCNP unit and their medical reports were traced. For the Non-HCNP group, the participants were identified based on criteria which were similar to that of the HCNP group. Based on the criteria identified, there was no significant difference between the two groups. The Activities of Daily Living was measured using the Modified Barthel Index twice; once on admission (based on record) and one post stroke. The t-test was applied to parametric data and non-parametric data; Chi-square was used to detect any significant relationships between the scores of the two groups. Results showed no significant difference (p=0.1990) in ADL on admission and ADL post stroke patients between the two groups. However, there were significant difference (HCNP p=0.000 and Non-HCNP p=0.000) in ADL on admission and post stroke for stroke patients who sought alternative treatment compared to those who had not.