Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the pain level in the aspiration process of adult patients wıth mechanical ventilator after open heart surgery.

Method: Ethics committee approval, institution approval and patient consent were obtained. The sample of the cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study consisted of 65 voluntary patients who had open heart surgery and connected to mechanical ventilation in a cardiovascular surgery intensive care unit at the university hospital in Izmir.

The data of research was collected between June 2013-August 2014 by using Patients Characteristics Form, Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS), Verbal Rating Scale (VRS) by observing the researcher and observer. The data were evaluated by a one-way analysis of variance for repeated measurements in dependent groups, correlation analysis in the relationship between dependent groups, Kappa test for interobserver agreement.

Results: There was a difference between the scores of PBS during endotracheal aspiration (pre=4.12±1.19, during=10.28±1.18, post=3.92±1.31, X2=114.4), the hemodynamic parameter values (Mean blood pressure X2=102.05, heart rate X2=101.28, oxygen saturation X2=110.92, respiratory rate X2= 106.43), the verbal pain scores of the patients (3.94±0.58), the scores of PBS during endotracheal aspiration (10.28±1.18), there was a concordance between the researcher and the observer (Z=-7.07), (p=0.000).

Conclusion: Hemodynamic parameters and the use of PBS in the endotracheal procedure have an effective role in the diagnosis of pain.

Key Words: Behavioral pain scale, intensive care unit, endotracheal aspiration, pain behavior

-This study is made by Canan Ünal