Abstract

This descriptive survey study was conducted to find out if women experienced more postoperative discomforts than men as determined by their statements on the third postoperative day. With this knowledge, the nursing care of these patients can be planned and improved. Twenty-five men and twenty-five women interviewed on their third postoperative day were asked to recall what they had experienced on the first, second, and third postoperative days. An interview guide adapted from the study conducted by Bartlett was used. The findings indicated that more women than men complained of feeling uncomfortable postoperatively. Among the physical discomforts, more women than men complained of having more incisional pain, gas pains, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, generalized dis comforts, weakness, and restlessness postoperatively. However, men complained of having more headaches and insomnia than women. There was no significant difference between the complaints of backache among men and women. The findings also indicated that women have more emotional dis comforts than men. Among the women, fear of pain ranked highest on all of the three days. Among the men, fear of pain ranked highest on the first and second day, and fear of complication ranked highest on the third day. The majority of patients considered themselves as average in their ability to stand pain. No association was found between the amount of medication received and patients' stated ability to stand pain, and the degree of pain patients stated they had experienced. Incisional pain caused the most discomfort among the majority of men and women on all three days.

LLU Discipline

Nursing

Department

Nursing

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Matilda Anabelle Mills

Second Advisor

R. Maureen Maxwell

Third Advisor

Gertrude Haussler

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1967

Date (Title Page)

5-1967

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Postoperative Care -- nursing

Type

Thesis

Page Count

vi; 61

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS