A comparison of the effectiveness of an opioid analgesic and a nonpharmacologic intervention to improve incentive spirometry volumes.

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of opioid analgesics and relaxation as interventions for incentive spirometry in postcardiovascular surgery patients. With the use of incentive spirometry change scores from pre- to posttreatment, 72 patients received either relaxation, opioid analgesia, or no intervention. Pre- to posttreatment differences in achieved spirometry volumes were significantly different for the 3 groups (F[2, 69] = 7.