The Preoperative Education Effect on the Reduction of Patient Anxiety

Background: Preoperative patient education is defined as information provided to patients before surgery and more specifically the systematic and detailed analysis of a patient’s course from the moment of hospital admission to the preoperative phase, surgery and the postoperative phase. The aim of preoperative patient education is the development of patient skills suitable for the optimal health progress of the patient. Aim: The objective of this review was to evaluate the documented effects of preoperative education effect on postoperative anxiety in patients. Method: Α literature search was made in the data base of Medline for the years 1965 to 2007, concerning the effects of preoperative education on the postoperative anxiety of patients, using key words such as “preoperative education”, “preoperative anxiety”, “patient education programs”. Specifically 22 studies were selected and analysed, which evaluated programs of preoperative education in hospitals in a variety of countries. Results: Data analysis showed that the implementation of a structured informative session reduced the preoperative anxiety status of surgical patients and improved their postoperative recovery. Although it is often assumed that provision of extra information can make some patients more anxious, research has shown that a great number of patients are not given as much information as they would like.