Judith C. Drew, PhD, RN, Supervisor2011-12-202014-02-192008-05-092011-12-202014-02-192007-06-292007-06-27etd-06292007-111418http://hdl.handle.net/2152.3/132Rocking motion may be useful in resolving postoperative ileus (POI) in cancer patients who have undergone abdominal surgery. Operations of the abdomen result in gastrointestinal dysmotility, to some extent, in all patients because abdominal surgical procedures to remove abdominal tumors require large abdominal incisions, extensive dissection, and manipulation of the bowel that initiates a surgical induced stress response commonly known as, postoperative ileus. In this study, the effects of a rocking chair motion as a moderator of the surgical stress response and mediator of the gas and distention effects of POI in abdominal surgery cancer patients compared to standard care was examined. Two groups of postoperative abdominal surgery cancer patients were randomly assigned to the rocking or non-rocking groups. The outcome variables assessed were duration of time to first flatus, subjective pain, total pain medication received and time to discharge. The hypotheses tested were there were no differences in duration of time to first flatus indicating resolution of POI, subjective pain, total pain medication received and time to discharge from the hospital. The rocking group had a reduction in time to first flatus and no differences in subjective reports of pain, total pain medication received and time to discharge from the hospital. Results indicated the rocking chair motion is effective in postoperative abdominal surgery cancer patients reducing the duration of postoperative ileus.electronicengCopyright © is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the TDL web site by The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works.RockingIleusFlatusdysmotilitydissertation