Pre-Operative Anxiety among Patients Undergoing Major Surgery in a Government Hospital of Nepal

Abstract

Background: The extreme form of pre-operative anxiety may lead to severe cardiovascular complications like hypertension, arrhythmia etc. and other severe post-operative complications like post-operative pulmonary complications, delay ambulation, wound infection etc. This study aims to find out the association between study variables and the level of anxiety. Methods: The study was conducted in surgical wards of Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH). The level of pre-operative anxiety of 47 patients in the surgical wards planned for major surgery was assessed using Beck Anxiety Inventory. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis were used to measure the association between anxiety and selected demographic and surgery related factors. Results: All the patients experienced anxiety while 70.7% and 29.8% experienced very low and moderate levels of anxiety. None experienced severe anxiety. The major cause identified were health professionals’ inadequacy to provide information and fear of blood transfusion. No significant association between the level of anxiety and sociodemographic and surgery-related characteristics was found. Conclusion: This study concludes that surgical patients experienced low to moderate levels of anxiety. Also, the need to incorporate pre-operative orientation and counseling programs in routine nursing care can be suggested. Keywords: Beck Anxiety Inventory, nursing care, Hospital anxiety, surgery, anxiety.