Effects of education on pain and anxiety before and after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery

Adem Gencer; Gürhan Öz; Ersin Gunay; Ahmet Dumanlı

doi:10.5114/kitp.2023.129550

Effects of education on pain and anxiety before and after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery

Kardiochir Torakochirurgia Pol. 2023 Jun;20(2):94-99. doi: 10.5114/kitp.2023.129550. Epub 2023 Jul 26.

Authors

Adem Gencer¹, Gürhan Öz¹, Ersin Gunay², Ahmet Dumanlı¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
² Department of Chest Diseases, Yüksek İhtisas University, Ankara, Turkey.

Abstract

Introduction: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is a common surgical procedure.

Aim: To find out how educating patients using multimedia affects their pain and anxiety before and after VATS surgery.

Material and methods: The study included 50 patients who underwent VATS between December 2017 and December 2018. The subjects were divided into two groups: the multimedia information group (MIG) and the control group (n = 25). The subjects underwent STAI-T testing, preoperative and postoperative STAI-S testing, and pulmonary function tests (PFT) before surgery and after surgery.

Results: The patients in the MIG had higher baseline anxiety levels than those in the control groups. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of demographic information, surgical characteristics, or vital signs. There was a statistically significant difference in the preoperative (p = 0.001) and the postoperative (p = 0.0001) pain scores between MIG and control groups. The postoperative STAI-S scores of MIG increased, but this increase was not significant. In both groups, there was no significant difference in the changes in systolic blood pressure (p = 0.656) or respiratory rate (p = 0.05). There was no difference between post-training and pre- and post-operative pain scores in both groups.

Conclusions: Providing multimedia information before surgery has some effect on pain. However, providing multimedia information does not reduce postoperative anxiety.

Keywords: multimedia information; post-operative pain scores; postoperative anxiety; thoracoscopic surgery.

Copyright: © 2023 Polish Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons (Polskie Towarzystwo KardioTorakochirurgów) and the editors of the Polish Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (Kardiochirurgia i Torakochirurgia Polska).