Clinical inputs
Blood transfusions and the incidence of bleeding within two weeks after
surgery, re-operation and the severity of pain within 24 hours after
surgery were considered as the outcomes of this study. To calculate pain
score after surgery, the visual analogue scale (VAS) was used. It has a
10-cm horizontal or vertical line, one side indicating the absence of
pain (0) and the other side indicating the most severe pain (10), on
which the patients put a mark based on their pain severity(14). Patients
were contacted three times (6, 12, and 24 hours) from the first day
after surgery to respond to the questionnaire at VAS. During the first
two weeks after surgery, if the bleeding occurs, the nurse recommends
family to refer to the surgeon to check for the presence of the bleeding
and its severity. In addition, the nurse should record the bleeding rate
and pain score using a questionnaire.