The Effect of Nutritional Guidelines Designed to prevent Constipation in Patients Undergoing Open Heart Surgery: A Clinical Trial

Gastrointestinal complications after open heart surgery are high mortality despite having low incidence. One of the complications that can overshadow the surgical results is constipation. Fasting before surgery and delayed oral nutrition after surgery are the causes of constipation. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of nutritional guidelines on the prevention of constipation in patients undergoing open heart surgery.

A special nutritional care instruction was designed using a review and Delphi study. In a clinical trial, 70 patients underwent open heart surgery. They were placed in two groups of 35 (experiment and control group). Nutritional guidelines and pamphlets were taught to patients and nurses in the experiment group. Patients were screened for constipation from the day before surgery to one week after surgery. The control group received routine experiment.

The mean frequency of bowel movements in the experimental group was higher than the control group, but only statistically significant in the first two days (P <0.05). Stool consistency was more natural during the one-week postoperative period in the control group than in the control group, and this difference was statistically significant (P <0.05).

The results of this study showed that the formulated nutritional care guidelines can be effective in preventing and reducing gastrointestinal complications, especially constipation, in the first two days after open heart surgery.