The efficacy of cold-gel packing for relieving episiotomy pain - A quasirandomised control trial

Purposes: This study evaluated the effectiveness of cold-gel packing on episiotomy pain among postpartum women who had normal spontaneous deliveries. Methods: A quasi-randomised control trial was conducted in a maternity ward of a regional teaching hospital in northern Taiwan. Seventy postpartum women were recruited, choosing to be in either the experimental or control group (35 women per group). Subjects in the experimental group received at least six interventions of cold-gel packing applied to the perineal wound and were provided oral analgesics routinely. The subjects in the control group received oral analgesics routinely. Findings: Pain intensity, pain interference on daily activities and satisfaction levels with pain management were assessed using Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and pain management questionnaire, respectively. The results showed that women in the experimental group reported significantly lower mean pain intensity score, pain interference on daily activities scores at 48 hours post-delivery, and higher level of satisfaction with pain management at 24 and 48 hours post-delivery than the control group after adjusting for demographic and obstetric data. Conclusions: Cold-gel packing on the perineum is a cost-effective, convenient, easy-to-deploy and non-pharmacologic approach to pain reduction, with an overall positive impact on postpartum recovery for parturients.