Nursing interventions’ impact on cardiovascular complications after gastrointestinal surgery in intensive care unit: Risk factor analysis

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular (CV) complications are common in intensive care unit (ICU) patients after gastrointestinal surgery and are associated with increased mortality and prolonged hospital stay. The optimization of postoperative nursing interventions, particularly pain management, is crucial for reducing such complications. AIM To investigate the effects of enhanced recovery nursing on CV complications after gastrointestinal surgery in ICU patients and associated risk factors. METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted on 78 adult patients who underwent gastrointestinal surgery in the ICU of our hospital between February 2023 and September 2024. Among them, 40 patients received standard care (control group), while 38 received enhanced recovery nursing (observation group). We compared the incidence of CV complications and nursing satisfaction between the two groups. Patients were divided into CV complication and non-complication groups based on complication occurrence, and logistic regression analysis was used to identify risk factors. RESULTS In the control and observation groups, the incidence of CV complications was 30.0% (12/40) and 18.4% (7/38), with a nursing satisfaction rate of 70.0% (28/40) and 92.1% (35/38), respectively. The postoperative pain score at 14 days was significantly lower in the observation group (0.27 ± 0.15) compared to the control group (1.65 ± 0.37), with all differences being statistically significant (P < 0.05). Univariate analysis indicated significant differences in age, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, smoking history, history of heart failure, and previous myocardial infarction (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression identified heart failure history, previous myocardial infarction, age, hypertension, and diabetes as independent risk factors, with odds ratios of 1.195, 1.528, 1.062, 1.836, and 1.942, respectively (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Implementing enhanced recovery nursing for ICU patients after gastrointestinal surgery is beneficial in reducing the incidence of CV complications and improving nursing satisfaction.