The Effects of Peppermint Oil on Post-Operative Urinary Retention

Abstract

Background: As a primarily postoperative unit, postoperative urinary retention is a common complication. Standard nursing interventions like running water and getting the patient up to the restroom, were not always successful which frequently led to the patient needing to be catheterized. A patient’s mother reported as a Labor and Delivery nurse she had successfully used peppermint oil in postpartum moms. A literature review did not reveal any Evidence Based nursing interventions to treat postoperative urinary retention. Peppermint oil was a nursing intervention in textbooks on postpartum care, with no evidence to support this indication for use. Due to a lack of evidence, a research project was started. Research Question: Does the use of peppermint oil in postoperative pediatric patients result in a reduced need for cauterization when experiencing urinary retention? Methods: The subject must be postoperative, continent, between the ages of 3 and 17, and experiencing urinary retention. A peppermint oil infused patch is placed on the patient for the patient to inhale while attempting to void. After one hour the patch is removed and physician is notified if no void. Results: Over 13 months 23 patients were enrolled. Of those, 15 were able to void within one hour of patch placement. Three patients voided after the patch was removed. A total of five patients required catheterization. A total of 22% of the study patients were catheterized after the use of peppermint oil. The retrospective chart search was performed to determine the control group. The search found 13 patients that met the research criteria. Of those 13, seven required catheterization which equates to a 54%. Conclusion: Even though there was a 32% decrease in the need for catheterization after the implementation of peppermint oil, the data did not prove to be statistically significant (p value of 0.07) due to the small sample size of both the study population and the retrospective chart search. Peppermint oil is now available to any patients meeting criteria for urinary retention. View a PDF of this Poster Presentation