THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ACUPUNCTURE THERAPY TO REDUCE SHORTNESS OF BREATH IN PALIATIVE PATIENTS: A LITERATURE REVIEW
Yenni Ferawati Sitanggang, Gracia Aktri, Alda Shema Rosetia , Crisnayanti S Batlayar , Debora Putri I N Sari

Universitas Pelita Harapan

Abstract

In palliative care nursing, symptoms management is one of the approaches used in order to reduce pain. Shortness of breath is one of the symptoms that patients often complain about especially patients with cancer and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). One of the non-pharmacological therapies that can be used to treat this symptom is acupuncture therapy. Acupuncture is relatively safe and does not cause harmful side effects. The aim of this study was to find the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy in releasing shortness of breath for palliative patients based on nursing literatures. This review was a systematic literature review with a simplified thematic approach as the results analyses. Databases used to search the articles through Research Gate, Pubmed and Google Scholar. The review included all reports that describe the effectiveness of acupuncture towards dyspnea to cancer patients. All the articles used PRISMA flow diagrams for the article selection process and Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal tools for eligibility test. Five articles were retrieved and eligible for this study. Eligibility criteria was determined by inclusion criteria including articles published between 2010-2020, articles in English and Indonesian language, full text, while the exclusion criteria were literature review article. The result showed that the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy in reducing shortness of breath were based on the acupuncture techniques, the duration of acupuncture therapy and evaluation method. Acupuncture therapy had been proven effective in reducing shortness of breath in palliative patients.

Keywords: Acupuncture, Dyspnea, Palliative Care

Topic: Medical and Surgical Nursing