The Effect of Giving a Hot Pack to Grade Shivering in PostOperative Patients Following a Cesarian Section in the Recovery Room

Introduction: Shivering is a complication that often
results from spinal anesthesia due to postoperative
hypothermia. Risk factors for shivering include
age, the length of the operation, the operating room
temperature, type of anesthesia, and having a low body
mass index. One way to reduce shivering is by giving
hot packs with a temperature <36 ºC. The purpose
of this study was to determine the effect of hot packs
in response to shivering in post-caesarean section
surgery patients.
Methods: The research consisted of a pre-experimental
with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The
population in this study was all of the post-operative
cesarean section patients in the Recovery Room of
Siti Khodijah Hospital Muhammadiyah Cabang
Sepanjang. The 25 patients making up the study
sample was determined using the consecutive sampling
technique over 2 weeks. Providing hot packs was the
independent variable and shivering grades was the
dependent variable. Hot packs with closed packaging
at a temperature of 40ºC were placed on the right and
left arm of the patient and left for about 15 minutes
followed by a re-evaluation of the body temperature
and the determination of the shivering grade in the
sample. Data analysis was performed using the
Wilcoxon Signed-Rank statistical test.
Results: The results showed a p-value = 0,0001 <α
= 0.05. This means that there is a significant effect
due to giving hot packs in terms of a change in body
temperature. There were also differences before the
treatment by 1 shivering grade for 20 samples and
2 shivering grades for 5 samples. After being given
the treatment, the shivering grade changed by 0 for
20 samples and by 1 shivering grade for 5 samples.
Conclusion: This study concluded that the
administration of hot packs caused a reaction in
the skin receptors and channeled the effects of a
hypothalamic temperature through evaporation to
reduce the shivering grade.