Effectiveness of Fan Therapy for the Management of Dyspnea

In addition to pharmacological approaches, clinicians use nonpharmacological approaches in the management of dyspnea, one of which is fan therapy. It's a simple, cost-effective intervention that patients can easily use independently, without requiring professional support. The field needs further research on the outcomes of fan use.

The study intended to determine the effectiveness of fan therapy in relieving dyspnea for patients with dyspnea symptoms.

The research team conducted a single-group, pretest-posttest study.

The study occurred at the Prof. Dr. Murat Dilmener Emergency Hospital, which is an additional service building of the Bakirkoy Dr. Sadi Konuk Training and Research Hospital in İstanbul, Turkey.

Participants were 81 patients with respiratory distress who received inpatient treatment at the hospital between March 2022 and June 2023.

The research team used a hand fan for 5 minutes to cool participants' faces.

At 15 minutes post fan therapy, the research team: (1) measured patients' dyspnea levels using with Modified Borg Scale (MBS), (2) oxygen saturation, (3) respiratory rate, (4) pulse rate, (5) body temperature, (6) blood pressure, and (7) respiratory-muscle-use status.

Between baseline and post intervention, participants' oxygen saturation (P = .001) significantly increased and respiration rates (P = .014), systolic blood pressure (P = .003), diastolic blood pressure (P = .001), use of accessory respiratory muscles (P = .003), and MBS values (P = .001) significantly decreased. At baseline, a high dyspnea level was significantly negatively correlated with an age >67 (P = .019), BMI >25.0 (P = .044), an oxygen saturation of <95 (P = .005), and respiratory rate >20/pm (P = .001) and significantly positively correlated with a severe need for oxygen support (P = .035), a pulse rate >100/pm (P = .001), and hypertension (P = .005). Post intervention, a high dyspnea level was significantly positively correlated with smoking (P = .008), a need for oxygen support (P = .001), a severe need of oxygen support (P = .017), and hypertension (P = .001) and significantly negatively correlated with oxygen saturation <95 (P = .002).

Fan therapy directed to the face can be effective in reducing the dyspnea level. With the therapy being a simple, reliable, and cost-effective method that nurses, patients, and their families can use, the current research team concludes that clinicians can use it together with pharmacological methods for patients experiencing dyspnea.