Integrating Acupressure to Alleviate Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting

Nausea, an unpleasant subjective experience, is a feeling that vomiting is imminent, although it may not ensue.¹  Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) add to morbidity through dehydration, electrolyte disturbance, aspiration, and wound pain, causing unnecessary delay in recovery, increased costs, and poor satisfaction among patients.^2,3  The incidence of PONV varies depending on multiple risk factors. Associated patient factors include increasing age, female sex, obesity, emotions/stress, history of motion sickness, and previous PONV. Treatment factors include operative procedure, inhalation anesthetic agents, and opioids.^4–6 

Typically, PONV is treated with antiemetics. But pharmacological interventions may be only partially effective. Some patients may not tolerate antiemetics because of adverse effects such as headache, agitation, or tachycardia, whereas PONV develops in others despite use of antiemetics.⁶  Nonpharmacological methods such as acupressure have shown promise in lessening PONV and chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Acupressure, a variation of acupuncture...