A Prospective Study of Nausea and Vomiting After Breast Cancer Surgery

Twenty-nine (29.8%) women experienced nausea, and nine (9%) women experienced nausea and vomiting while in the post-anesthesia care unit despite close attention to the need for prophylactic antiemetic medications. Women who experienced PONV had higher levels of pain and received more opioids than those women who did not experience PONV. Women who received intravenous acetaminophen did not experience less PONV in this study. PDNV occurred more frequently than PONV, with 34 women (35%) reporting occurrence after discharge. About 13 women who did not experience PONV while in the PACU subsequently experienced PDNV after leaving the hospital, evidence for the importance of patient discharge teaching regarding these symptoms. Although clinical guidelines are necessary, our observation is that nurses in the PACU setting continuously challenge themselves to individualize the combination of medications and activities for each patient to reduce PONV after surgery.