Preventive Care in Nursing and Midwifery Journal

Background and Objectives: Due to the side effects of drugs, non-drug treatments today have attracted the attention of nursing systems. This study aimed to determine the effect of aromatherapy massage with peppermint oil on physiological indicators after surgery.

Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, at Razi Hospital in Ahvaz, 60 patients were selected and matched for laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery based on inclusion criteria for age and gender and were assigned to intervention (N=30) and control groups (N = 30). The intervention group members were massaged at hands and feet with peppermint oil twice immediately after entering the recovery room and 6 hours later; for the control group sweet almond oil was used as placebo. Physiological indicators in the 0, 6, 12, 24 hours after surgery were recorded. To analyze the data, we used independent t- test, chi-square and repeated measures test and SPSS 19.

Results: Using duplicate values, a significant relationship was seen between the average systolic blood pressure (P=0.03), average diastolic blood pressure (P=0.02), and average heart rate (P=0.04) in both groups. But, there were no significant differences in the average number of breathing times in the 2 groups (P=0.08).

Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, physiological indicators in both groups were in the normal range; therefore, aromatherapy with peppermint oil is not considered to be clinically valuable.