Effect of local cold application before and after subcutaneous enoxaparin sodium injection in injection site pain and bruising

Background and Object: Subcutaneous enoxaparin injection very often leads to various reaction such as bruising and pain in the injection site. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of local cold application on occurrence of bruising and pain on injection site resulting from enoxaparin sodium injection in patients. Investigation method: The method employed in this study is clinical trial for which 100 hospitalized patients in the Coronary Care Unit of Ayatollah Roohani teaching hospital in Babol were selected through convenience sampling. Patients in the study were divided into 5 groups (4 case groups and 1 control group). Injections for control group were administered by standard procedure (i.e. 10-second injection without cold application) for case groups local cold (ice and cold water compress) were applied 5 minutes before injection, 5 minutes before and after injection, 20 minutes after injection, and 5 minutes before and 20 minutes after injection for which 10-second rule was observed. Data was collated using a researcher-made check list which consisted of two sections: personal information and a section for recording bruising and pain intensity measurements. Size of bruises were measure 24, 48 and 72 hours after injection using a transparent millimeter ruler and pain intensity was measured using VAS visual scale which was done immediately after injection. Descriptive and inferential tests (independent T test and Chi-squared test) of SPSS 16 were used to analyze collected data. Findings: The results indicated that there is a significant difference between control group and case groups in pain intensity and width of bruise after 24, 48 and 72 hours after injections and this difference was more noticeable for the case group which receive local cold application 5 minutes before and after injection. Conclusion: The current study showed that cold application before and after subcutaneous enoxaparin sodium injection helps reduce pain and bruise width in injection site. © 2018 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.