Aims: Patients undergoing artificial ventilation require tracheal tube suction because of inability to clear their effective airways, which is usually a painful process for the patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of spike lavender’s inhalant on pain during tracheal tube suctioning in ICU intubated patients.

Materials & Methods: In this double-blinded randomized clinical trial, 60 intubated patients hospitalized in ICU of Shahid Modarres Hospital of Kashmar City, Iran, in 2017 were selected by available and simple sampling method, and were randomly divided into 2 control and case groups (each 30 individuals). Before the standard suctioning process, the test group patients received inhalant of 2% spike lavender for 5 minutes and the control group received inhalant of distilled water. The level of pain was recorded before and during tracheal tube suctioning. Data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software using independent T, paired T, Fisher and Mann-Whitney U tests.

Findings: There was no significant difference in pain score before tracheal tube suction between 2 groups (p>0.05). However, there were significant differences between the level of pain during tracheal tube suctioning and the pain was increased in both groups, but this increase was significantly higher in the control group (p<0.001).  

Conclusion: Spike lavender’s inhalant is effective on pain reduction during suctioning process of ICU intubated patients.