Clinical trial NCT06014216: Treating Post-Operative Thirst With Flavoured Ice Lollies or Water - a Comparative Study to Improve Post-operative Discomfort
Official title: Treating Post-Operative Thirst With Flavoured Ice Lollies or Water - a Comparative Study to Improve Post-operative Discomfort
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Postoperative Thirst
Keywords: Thirst
Postoperative
Ice Lollies
Anaesthesia
Hydration
Lead sponsor: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-08-28
Enrollment: 173
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Patients are asked not to eat and drink before their operation, and we know that this can make people feel thirstier when they wake up from their anaesthetic. We want to know if giving patients ice lollies improves their thirst more than if they were given water. Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is funding and running a research study to find ways to try and improve this.

Detailed description: The 2019 peri-operative quality improvement project (PQIP) run by the Royal College of Anaesthetists showed 79% of patients experience moderate to severe thirst post-operatively. As a significant source of post-operative discomfort, resolving patient thirst may significantly improve their experience.

Whilst provision of oral fluids may be able to alleviate some thirst, many patients are unable to drink sufficient quantities to quench their thirst following an anaesthetic. Furthermore, studies have shown that frozen water is able to quench thirst to a greater degree than liquids.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether ice lollies quench post-operative thirst to a greater degree than water. Patients are already routinely offered water post-operatively, the offering of flavoured ice lollies is a novel intervention for our hospital. We intend to investigate two primary outcomes. First, can ice lollies quench post-operative thirst to a greater degree than water and therefore improve patient discomfort. Second, if ice lollies are found to be superior to water in quenching thirst and improving post-operative discomfort, do these patients take less time to recover from their operation?

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients over 18 years of age
2. Patients attending for elective surgery

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Allergy to products within the ice lolly
2. Designated nil-by-mouth by anaesthetic or surgical teams
3. Patient less than 18 years old
4. Patient unable to give consent
5. Refusal of patient to be involved with study

Primary outcomes:
measure: The primary outcome measure is the level of post-operative thirst following intervention with either water or ice lolly.
timeFrame: Intervention is to be given when the patient is adequately recovered from anaesthesia. An initial thirst score is recorded, then intervention given. Thirst scores are recorded again 15 minutes later to provide data for the primary outcome measure.
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Gloucester
country: United Kingdom
facility: Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
state: Gloucestershire
Study officials:
affiliation: Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
name: David Sleep, BSc MSc MBBS D.Phil
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: