Effectiveness of Chewing Gum in Increasing Bowel Motility among Clients who had Undergone Major Abdominal Surgery

Background/Aim: Postoperative paralytic ileus remains a source of morbidity and major determinant of length of hospital stay after abdominal operation. The aim of our study is to evaluate the effect of chewing gum in increasing the bowel motility among patients underwent abdominal surgery.

Objectives: 1. To evaluate the effectiveness of chewing gum among clients who had undergone major abdominal surgery. 2. To associate the relationship between the level of bowel motility in selected demographic variables.

Materials and Methods: A quasi experimental study was used for a total of 60 samples (30 experimental, 30 control Group) were selected by purposive sampling technique from Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai. The observational checklist was used to assess the bowel motility. The chewing gum was given to the experimental group on the 1_st post operative day onwards (25^th hour of surgery), 3 times/day (8 hours interval) for 20 minutes until the 1_st defecation bowel movements were assessed every 4^th hourly. The t-test was used to find out the effectiveness of the chewing gum in increasing the bowel motility.

Conclusion: The result showed that the chewing gum after a major abdominal surgery is a simple, inexpensive and effective method of promoting bowel function and it can be added as adjuvant treatment method in postoperative care.