Volume 9, Issue 1 (Winter 2023)                   JCCNC 2023, 9(1): 25-34 | Back to browse issues page


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1- Trauma Nursing Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
2- Chief Surgeon & Director of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery, Research Center for Advanced Technologies in Cardiovascular Medicine, Tehran Heart Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
3- Trauma Nursing Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. , azizifinies@yahoo.com
4- Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
Abstract:   (1124 Views)
Background: Hypothermia is usually used during cardiac surgery to further protect against cardiac and cerebral ischemia. However, cognitive impairment could be a common complication after open heart surgery. This study aims to determine the effect of rewarming on the cognitive status of patients after open heart surgery. 
Methods: The present study was conducted as a double-blind, randomized clinical trial at Tehran Heart Center, Tehran, Iran. In this clinical trial, 80 patients referred for open heart surgery were selected and randomly assigned into the intervention (n=40) and control (n=40) groups. In the intervention group, rewarming the mattress was started after the patient entered the intensive care unit. Warming continued until the patient’s body temperature reached the normothermia level (37°C to 37.5°C). The data were collected by demographic-clinical questionnaire and Mini-Mental State Examination at three time points: before, 7 days, and 1 month after the surgery. The data were analyzed in SPSS software, version 16 using descriptive statistics, independent t test, chi-square test, repeated measure ANOVA, and paired t test. The significance level was considered less than 0.05.
Results: The difference between the mean±SD scores of cognitive status in the intervention group before the surgery (28.73±0.87), 7 days (27.63±1.03), and 1 month after the surgery (28.93±1.21) was significant (P=0.008). The difference between the mean±SD scores of cognitive status in the control group before the surgery (28.42±1.02), 7 days (26.61±0.86), and 1 month after the surgery (27.85±1.06) was also significant (P=0.042). The results indicated that the mean score of cognitive status improves after 1 month, and it is greater in the intervention group (F=20.37, df=2, P<0.001). Significant differences were observed between the first and second time of measurements (P<0.0001) and also the second and third time of measurements (P<0.0001).
Conclusion: Rewarming patients after open heart surgery improves their cognitive status. Therefore, this procedure can be used as a safe and non-invasive method to prevent cognitive complications by nurses after open heart surgery.
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Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2022/09/6 | Accepted: 2022/11/15 | Published: 2023/01/10

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