Assessing the Effectiveness of Lateral and Semi Fowler’s Position on Selected Patients Admitted with Respiratory Problems in Different Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: Respiratory disease is a medical term that encompasses pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange possible in higher organisms and includes conditions of the upper respiratory tract, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, alveoli, pleura, pleural cavity, the nerves and muscles of breathing. Positioning is one of the most frequently performed nursing activity in the critical care, often providing a central pivotal focus for planning other nursing activity. Lateral position involves the patient lying on either patient’s right or left side. Semi Fowler’s Position is a position in which a patient is positioned on their back with the head and trunk raise to 30 degrees. So, the main objective of this study was to compare and evaluate the effectiveness after giving Lateral position in group 1 & Semi Fowler’s position in group 2 among patients admitted with Respiratory problems. Method: A comparative study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of Lateral position v/s Semi Fowler’s position on selected Respiratory Parameters among the patients admitted with Respiratory problems for which 40 samples were selected by non-random purposive sampling and the data was collected by assessing the selected respiratory parameters (blood pressure, oxygen saturation, breath holding time, respiration rate & heart rate) using instruments. Quantitative Research Approach was used in this study and research design was Quasi Experimental Research Design. The collected data was analyzed by Descriptive and Inferential Statistics. Result: Majority of the patients are male as compared to female and above 51 years of age. On the basis of comparing the posttest mean values of both the group, the posttest mean value (417.05) of group 2 (Semi Fowler’s position) is much higher than the posttest mean value (403.1) of group 1 (Lateral position). The result revealed that both the positions are effective to improve the respiratory parameters but on the basis of mean post test score the semi fowler’s position is more effective when compared to lateral position on respiratory parameters. The t value is found to be 3.022 with the significance level of p<0007. Therefore, Hypothesis H3 is accepted. Conclusion: From the finding of the study, the respiratory parameters were improved in semi fowler’s position as compared to lateral position. Paired ‘t’ value was significantly higher where p value is <0.05. Thus, it is concluded that the Semi Fowler’s position is highly effective to improve the selected Respiratory Parameters on the patients admitted with Respiratory Problems.