EFFECT OF PREOPERATIVE ANESTHETIC EDUCATION ON PATIENT ANXIETY: A COMPARISON BETWEEN MAJOR AND MINOR SURGICAL PATIENTS

Abstract

Background:

Preoperative anxiety is a regular challenge for surgical patients, driven by fear of the unknown, risks associated with anesthesia, postoperative discomfort, and unfamiliar clinical enviroment. Elevated blood pressure and heart rate are among the negative physiological reactions brought on by high baseline anxiety, which can compromise intraoperative stability and raise the need for anesthesia. Although preoperative education is a well-known non-pharmacological strategy for reducing this stress, little is known about how surgical complexity affects its efficacy, there is limited comparative data on how surgical complexity influences its effectiveness.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess and compare how structured verbal preoperative anesthetic education affected the anxiety levels of individuals undergoing major and minor elective procedures.

Methodology:

A quasi-experimental comparative study was conducted at the Hayatabad Medical Complex and the Peshawar Institute of Medical Sciences, involving a stratified random sample of 96 adult patients (n = 48 minor surgery; n = 48 major surgery). Baseline anxiety was measured using a structured 8-item tool, followed by a face-to-face verbal educational session covering anesthetic procedures, risks, and postoperative care, after which anxiety was reassessed. Data were analyzed using paired and independent samples t-tests via SPSS version 25.

Results:

Across the entire study, structured education led to a highly statistically significant reduction in mean anxiety scores from a baseline of 1.89 down to 1.23  (t = 10.213, p < 0.001), with high-anxiety cases dropping from 25.0% to 3.1%. At baseline, major surgery patients exhibited significantly higher anxiety of mean 2.27 than minor surgery patients (mean=1.50, p = 0.001). Post-intervention, while anxiety decreased significantly in both groups, the major surgery group maintained a significantly higher residual anxiety mean 1.33 compared to the minor surgery group (mean=1.12, p = 0.037).

Conclusion:

Structured verbal preoperative anesthetic education is a highly effective, accessible, and clinically adaptable strategy for mitigating preoperative anxiety, successfully bridging communication barriers even for patients without formal education. However, Patients after major surgery continue to experience higher levels of anxiety, highlighting the urgent need for more thorough, specific psychological counseling templates in high-complexity cases.