Abstract

LMWH has been a promising drug because of its predictable anticoagulant response in the treatment and prophylaxis of thromboembolic phenomena. Among its local complication, the reported incidence rates of bruises is 26.6% to 88.9% and pain is 93.7-98.7%. Nurses limit the areas that can be injected by avoiding repeated injections in the bruised area.  The primary goal of the study was to determine how cold application affected ICU patients pain and bruises caused by subcutaneous injection of low molecular weight heparinat specific hospitals' in Navi Mumbai. A quasi-experimental post-test-only design with Non Probability sampling technique was used to select 50 samples with split body image.  Cold application utilizing frozen gel packs was used  for 3 minutes before and 5 minutes after the subcutaneous  injection of LMWH. The pain was assessed using numerical pain rating scale and  the bruise was assessed by using bruise assessment scale. The respondents of the experimental side had a mean pain score of 2.80±0.81. The respondents of the control side  had a mean pain score of 4.62±0.85. The results of the Wilcoxon test showed that the pain intensity of the experimental side was significantly lower compared to the control side(P < 0.05)at 48 and 72 hours; the  respondents of the experimental side had a mean bruise score of 0.20±0.61 and the  respondents of control side  had a mean bruise score of 1.56±0.84. Friedman's test shows that at 78.00 and 10.00 in the control and the experimental side, the level of significance at 5% level is 0.000 and 0.007 respectively. In clinical practice, a cold application utilizing frozen gel packs for 3 minutes before and 5 minutes after the injection of LMWH is effective.