The present study was conducted to
evaluate the efficacy of chewing gum on
bowel motility among patients who have
undergone abdominal surgery. The null
hypotheses proposed was that there was
no significant difference in early return of first
bowel sound, passage of flatus and return of
appetite with the administration of chewing
gum at 0.05 level of significance. The study
was conducted in General male and female
surgical wards of Nehru hospital at Post
Graduate Institute of Medical Education and
research (PGIMER), Chandigarh which is a
premier institute of medical education and
research, which include 60 patients who
underwent abdominal surgery(
cholecystectomy, restoration of bowel
continuity, colectomy etc) under general
anaesthesia after obtaining approval of
Institute Ethics Committee and informed
written consent was taken from all enrolled
patients. The following tools and protocols
were used for data collection. Sociodemographic
data sheet of the subjects,
protocol for administration of chewing gum,
protocol for auscultation of bowel sounds , a
check list to assess the bowel sounds,
passage of first flatus and the return of
appetite. Tools were validated by experts in
the field of nursing & surgery. Baseline data
were collected with the help of interview
schedule for socio demographic data,
preoperative history of patients related to
surgery, post operative assessment of the
patients. A total of sixty patients were enrolled
by purposive sampling. 30 patients each in