Effect of Abdominal Massage on Enteral Feeding Tolerance for Critically Ill Patient

Background: Abdominal massage is universally effective method on criticallyill patients. Aim: Evaluate the effect of abdominal massage on enteral feedingtolerance for critically ill patients. Design: A quasi-experimental study design.Setting: This study was conducted in Anesthesia Intensive Care Unit at theEmergency Unversity Hospital of Tanta University Hospitals affiliated toministry of higher education and scientific research. Subjects: Purposivesampling of 100 patients divided into two groups 50 in each group in the abovepreviously mentioned setting. Tools: Two tools will be used in this study: ToolI: Enteral Feeding Assessment Tool, tool II: Enteral Feeding ToleranceAssessment Tool. Results: The results showed more consistent improvement inresidual volume across the treatment days compared to the control group, withlower residual volumes on days 1 through 7 days with statistically significancedifference (P < 0.001 for all). Conclusion: Based on the results of the currentstudy, it can be concluded that: Abdominal massage has an effectiveintervention on the gastrointestinal outcomes (reduce abdominal distention,abdominal rigidity and gastric residual volume) among enterally fed critically illpatients. Recommendations: It can be recommended that the same study couldbe replicated in more hospitals with a larger probability sample for furtherresearch and abdominal massage should be a regular part of nursing treatmentfor critically ill patients