An audit of post-operative nausea and vomiting, following cardiac surgery: scope of the problem

Post-operative nausea and vomiting is a major problem for patients following cardiac surgery. The literature in this area identifies that there are a number of individual patient and post-operative factors which increase the risk of post-operative nausea and vomiting, including female gender, non-smoker, age, use of opioids, pain and anxiety. An audit involving 200 patients, who had undergone cardiac surgery was implemented to assess/evaluate the incidence of nausea and vomiting for this patient group. Data collected included information relating to nausea and vomiting, pain, consumption of morphine and other individual patient variables. The results suggest that nausea and vomiting, is experienced by a large number of patients after cardiac surgery (67%), with the majority suffering on the first day after surgery. The duration of nausea and vomiting for most is short, but for a significant number (7%) it can last up to one-quarter of their initial post-operative course. The paper discusses key implications for practice arising from this project.