Presurgery Anxiety and Day Surgery Patients' Need for Information

Abstract

Purpose: This study was done to determine day surgery patients' presurgery anxiety levels related to information received. Design: A descriptive and cross-sectional model was used. Methods: The study was conducted with 151 patients who underwent day surgery at surgical clinics of a university hospital in Turkey. The data were gathered with the Patient Information Form and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Findings: The findings were that most of the patients received information about their day surgery, but the rate of receiving information about some issues was very low. Most of the patients reported that although they did not have any anxiety about surgery and anesthesia, observations revealed that their average state and trait anxiety scores were high. Conclusions: Study results can be used as a basis to provide patients with clarifications about surgeries during the presurgery period and as a means of decreasing their anxiety about surgery and anesthesia.