Self-Reported Anxiety of Pre-Operative Cardiac Surgery Patients and Effectiveness of Pre-Operative Orientation Programme on Level of Anxiety

Background : The nurse plays an integral role as a member of the multidisciplinary team to provide education and orientation to patients regarding surgery and intensive therapy units which relieves anxiety. The surgery, whether elective or emergent, is a stressful and complex event. Pre-operative anxiety adversely effects the postoperative outcomes of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The present study aimed at assessing the anxiety of pre-operative cardiac surgery patients and evaluating the effect of pre-operative orientation programme on level of anxiety among cardiac surgery patients in selected hospital of Delhi. Material and Methods: This was a quantitative study with pre-experimental (one group pre-test post-test) research design. Sample consisted of 60 pre-operative cardiac surgery patients selected by purposive sampling technique. Tools consisted of demographic profile, state trait anxiety inventory and basic human physiological parameter. Pre-operative orientation programme was administered by the researcher and post-test was taken one day before cardiac surgery. Analysis was done by SPSS 20. Result: Pre-test level of state anxiety showed that out of 60 patients, 15 were having greater anxiety and 45 were having severe anxiety. Regarding trait anxiety, in pre-test, 11 were having greater anxiety, 44 were having severe anxiety and 5 were having moderate anxiety. Regarding basic human physiologic parameter, 32 were having mild anxiety and 28 were having moderate anxiety. There was significant decrease in state anxiety from a mean score of 53.75 to 34.53 (p<0.05) and in trait anxiety from a mean score of 50.65 to 34.28 (p<0.05). Regarding basic human physiological parameter, also, there was a significant decrease in mean anxiety score form 8.46 to 4.28 respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study proved the effectiveness of preoperative orientation programme on level of anxiety among pre-operative cardiac surgery patients. Hence, such programmes should be routinely used in cardiac surgery wards to lessen the anxiety of patients and improve the surgical outcome as anxiety adversely effects post-operative outcomes.