Often in my unit we attempt to use other methods of pain relief for our patients. We have the option of using essential oils to help alleviate stress, pain, and anxiety in our patients. We learned in the lesson for this week that confidence intervals create a range wherein test results can be expected (Chamberlain, 2022). We use pharmacological interventions to help reduce anxiety and pain many times in the hospital, but what about non-pharmacological interventions like essential oils and aromatherapy? According to a study done on older adults with chronic pain, 82 participants were studied, if 44 participants had positive results due to aromatherapy (Tang,2014). This is what my excel spreadsheet would look like below.
This shows that with 95% confidence I can say that between 43% and 64% of the participants in the study showed results of having aromatherapy decrease pain. I used the proportion due to my sample size being so small.
Chamberlain University College of Nursing. (2022). MATH225: Statistical Reasoning for the Health Sciences, Week 6 Lesson: Confidence Intervals for Mean (Population Standard Deviation Known). (Online lesson). Downers Grove, IL.
Tang, S. K., & Tse, M. Y. M. (2014). Aromatherapy: Does it help to relieve pain, depression, anxiety, and stress in community-dwelling older persons? BioMed research international. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4119713/.
