Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are at high risk for limb edema, which caused complications such as pain, joint contracture, limited range of motion and atrophy of the limbs. Thus, this study was conducted to compare ICU patients' upper limb edema between two groups with the intervention of limb elevation and intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC). In this quasi‐experimental before and after study, 40 patients were recruited. One upper limb was randomly assigned to the upper limb elevation (ULE) group and the other one was assigned to the IPC group. The circumference of the wrist and the middle of the arm were compared between and within groups. Results showed that in both groups of IPC and ULE and all five sessions (unless the second session of ULE), participants' arm and wrist edema were reduced significantly after the interventions (arm: P < .01; wrist: P < .0001). The differences between the two groups of ULE and IPC in regards to limb edema reduction were not significant. Although there was no significant difference between IPC and ULE intervention in the removal of edema, ULE seems to be more feasible and practical, which should be assessed in future studies.

Background: Patients admitted to ICU are susceptible to different complications, such as extremities edema. Proper nursing intervention is one of the important aspects of ICU patient's care. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of hand elevation to reduce hand edema and intravenous volume of ICU patients. Patients and Methods:This experimental clinical study was conducted on 40 ICU patients in hospitals affiliated to Kerman university of medical sciences, Kerman, Iran. During five consecutive days, we randomly elevated one hand of patients with edema, using a 30-degree inclined plane and fixed it for 30 minutes. In each session, before and after limb elevation, central venous pressure (CPV), size of the wrist and the midsection of the arm were measured and recorded. Results: Elevating upper limb was effective to reduce hand edema and increasing CVP of ICU patients (P < 0.05). In addition, there was a meaningful association between gender and reduction of arm edema (P = 0.04), and between GCS and wrist edema (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Raising upper limb as a low expense method without any complications could be efficient to reduce hand edema of ICU patients and improve effective intravascular volume.