Effectiveness of Preoperative Counseling to Reduce Anxiety in Patients Undergoing General Anesthesia at Northwest General Hospital

Abstract

Surgical patients may experience anxiety during the pre-operation period which stimulate stress during and after the operation. Fear of death, surgery, loss of independence, pain after the surgery, isolation from family, success rate of surgery and to wait for surgical procedures are the main causes of preoperative anxiety. The low level of information about the issues related to surgery, nature of disease and the side effects after the operation may raise the anxiety level before, during and after the surgery. Different methods are used for managing the pre-operative anxiety such as medications and educational sessions. Due to adverse side effects of medicines, anesthesiologists prefer pre-operative counseling. This research study aimed to examine the effectiveness of preoperative counseling for the patients undergoing anesthesia. The Observational study was performed at the Northwest General Hospital Peshawar from July 2022 to December 2022. Total 196 participants involved in the study and their heat rate, blood pressure and pulse rate was checked before the counseling session, BAI used to find the main predictors of anxiety and its effect. Finally, the participants were provided with counseling sessions and their anxiety level was again checked with the vitals (HR, RR, BP).  Results concluded that heart rate, blood pressure and pulse rate was increased in females as compared to males. Before the counseling session the anxiety level was high and after the counseling session most of the patients felt to be relaxed, pleasant and less tensed.