Reducing Up-set Stomach and Vomiting After Surgery Using Essential Oils

August 31, 2018 updated by: Maxine Fearrington, University of Rochester

Essential Oils to Reduce Post-Operative Nausea and Vomiting

The purpose of this study is to determine if aromatherapy (essential oil) is effective at reducing up-set stomach and vomiting after surgery and in reducing the need for up-set stomach medications

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

If participants decide to take part in this study, they will be asked to use choose a small nasal inhaler from a bag, open the sealed package, and inhale from the nasal inhaler 3 times, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth, just prior to entering the operating room. During recovery in the Post-operative acute care unit (PACU), nausea severity will be rated using a 0-3 scale where zero indicates no nausea.

If your score is 1-3, participants will be instructed/assisted in using a nasal inhaler 3 times, inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. After 5 minutes, nausea scores will be collected again and if the score is the same or higher, participants will be asked to use the nasal inhaler again in the same manner as before. If their nausea has not resolved after the second use, they will be give anti-nausea medication that a surgeon ordered. This process will be repeated again whenever you complain of nausea, until they are discharged from the hospital.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

143

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • New York
      • Rochester, New York, United States, 14642
        • University of Rochester Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • post-op surgical patients at least 18 years of age or older
  • the ability to understand and follow directions for use of essential oils
  • the ability to understand and give informed consent to study
  • the ability to understand, read and write English
  • ambulatory or short-stay/23-hour patients

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of any pulmonary disease, including but not limited to: asthma, COPD, OSA, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary and ear, nose, throat (ENT) surgery patients
  • Allergy to any of the ingredients in the essential oils
  • Sensitivity to strong odors

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Peppermint oil
post-op surgical patients
The study product is a commercial essential oil product and nasal inhaler. It is to be prepared by a trained, independent individual who will add 4 drops of one of the three oils/oil combinations. The subject will be instructed to twist off the cap and position inhaler in such a way as to allow the subject to inhale the vapors; it can be reused for multiple administrations. Essential oils have been the subject of other studies in treating nausea. If nausea is unrelieved, treatment will progress to the ordered antiemetic.
Experimental: Ginger oil
post-op surgical patients
The study product is a commercial essential oil product and nasal inhaler. It is to be prepared by a trained, independent individual who will add 4 drops of one of the three oils/oil combinations. The subject will be instructed to twist off the cap and position inhaler in such a way as to allow the subject to inhale the vapors; it can be reused for multiple administrations. Essential oils have been the subject of other studies in treating nausea. If nausea is unrelieved, treatment will progress to the ordered antiemetic.
Experimental: Peppermint and ginger oil
post-op surgical patients
The study product is a commercial essential oil product and nasal inhaler. It is to be prepared by a trained, independent individual who will add 4 drops of one of the three oils/oil combinations. The subject will be instructed to twist off the cap and position inhaler in such a way as to allow the subject to inhale the vapors; it can be reused for multiple administrations. Essential oils have been the subject of other studies in treating nausea. If nausea is unrelieved, treatment will progress to the ordered antiemetic.
The study product is a commercial essential oil product and nasal inhaler. It is to be prepared by a trained, independent individual who will add 4 drops of one of the three oils/oil combinations. The subject will be instructed to twist off the cap and position inhaler in such a way as to allow the subject to inhale the vapors; it can be reused for multiple administrations. Essential oils have been the subject of other studies in treating nausea. If nausea is unrelieved, treatment will progress to the ordered antiemetic.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mean change in nausea score
Time Frame: baseline to 24 hours
Nausea will be score on a scale of 0-3 with zero indicated no nausea.
baseline to 24 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Maxine Fearrington, MS, University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

March 12, 2018

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

June 30, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 7, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 7, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

December 12, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 4, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 31, 2018

Last Verified

August 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • RSBR00069976

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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