ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the clinical effect of Chinese herbal medicine gargle on the prevention of aspiration pneumonia in elderly patients with long-term nasal feeding. Methods 93 elderly patients over 60 years old with indwelling nasogastric tube for 30 days were randomly divided into 48 cases of the experimental group and 45 cases of the control group. We compared incidence of aspiration pneumonia of the elderly patients with long-term nasal feeding in two groups of oral care solution by using the self-made traditional Chinese medicine gargle for oral nursing in the experimental group and treated with saline in the control group. Results The oral bacterial colony count and the incidence of aspiration pneumonia in the experimental group were lower than those in the control group, with two different kinds of nursing fluid. Conclusion Using the self-made traditional Chinese medicine gargle for oral care, could effectively reduce the number of oral bacteria, reduce the incidence of aspiration pneumonia, the application effect is good, and could be in clinical promotion and application.
ABSTRACT
Intracutaneous sterile water injection (ISWI) is used for relief of low back pain during labor, acute attacks of urolithiasis, chronic neck and shoulder pain following whiplash injuries, and chronic myofascial pain syndrome. We conducted a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the effect of ISWI for relief of acute low back pain (aLBP). A total of 68 patients (41 females and 27 males) between 18 and 55 years old experiencing aLBP with moderate to severe pain (scores ≥5 on an 11-point visual analogue scale [VAS]) were recruited and randomly assigned to receive either ISWIs (n=34) or intracutaneous isotonic saline injections (placebo treatment; n=34). The primary outcome was improvement in pain intensity using the VAS at 10, 45, and 90 min and 1 day after treatment. The secondary outcome was functional improvement, which was assessed using the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) 1 day after treatment. The mean VAS score was significantly lower in the ISWI group than in the control group at 10, 45, and 90 min, and 1 day after injection (P<0.05, t-test). The mean increment in PSFS score of the ISWI group was 2.9±2.2 1 day after treatment, while that in the control group was 0.9±2.2. Our study showed that ISWI was effective for relieving pain and improving function in aLBP patients at short-term follow-up. ISWI might be an alternative treatment for aLBP patients, especially in areas where medications are not available, as well as in specific patients (e.g., those who are pregnant or have asthma), who are unable to receive medications or other forms of analgesia because of side effects.