Use of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation to Alleviate Thirst After Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: This prospective study investigated the preventive effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimula-tion (TENS) for postoperative thirst. Design: This experimental study was conducted with the CONSORT checklist. Methods: A total of 105 surgical patients who received general anesthesia were recruited from a medical cen-ter. Each patient was randomly assigned to the experimental group (n = 53; 20 min of TENS) or the control group (n = 52; routine care). In each group, oral moisture wetness was measured at 1 min, 20 min, and 50 min post-surgery. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square test, t test, one-way ANOVA, and gen-eralized estimating equation (GEE) regression analysis) were performed to assess the proposed relationships. Findings: The two groups showed similar characteristics at baseline. The oral moisture wetness was signifi-cantly higher in the experimental group than the control group at each post-surgery assessment time (all P < .001). The GEE results showed that patients in the experimental group reported more oral moisture wetness than patients in the control group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that TENS can reduce thirst reported by patients after general anesthe-sia. Thus, this method may have clinical applications for managing postoperative thirst.(c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses.