Yes / For patients to be treated, decisions about their care must be made before treatment begins. In case of pre-operative anxiety, it is currently unknown how clinicians and patients discuss information about the issue, and it is also not known whether clinicians consider (or are ready to consider) their patients’ preferences of non-pharmaceutical pre-operative anxiety reduction interventions. At present no study has been conducted to find information on surgical patients’ preferences of, and their involvement in decisions about non-pharmaceutical interventions for reducing their pre-operative anxiety. This paper investigates elective surgical patients’ involvement in treatment decisions with the aim of finding out their preferred non-pharmaceutical pre-operative anxiety reduction interventions before they undergo elective surgery. Method: A survey method was used to collect data on patients’ preference of non-pharmaceutical preoperative anxiety reduction interventions at a tertiary health facility in Nigeria. Participants: A sample of 30 participants-17 male and 13 female, schedule to undergo surgical operations was selected using a convenient sampling method. Their ages range between 17 to 70 years (mean age = 41.03 and standard deviation = 16.09). Study design/procedure: To elicit preference of interventions, the study participants were presented with cards that contain picture of surgical patient receiving one of the non-pharmaceutical interventions used in reducing pre-operative anxiety. The pictures were presented one at a time for 30-40 seconds. The researcher then gives the participants a sheet of paper with the different interventions boldly written for the participants to rank order them according to the degree of their preferences. Through this process, data was collected from all the 30 participants. Results: The results obtained were entered into SPSS for analysis. Descriptive statistics, at 95 % confidence was calculated to estimate the percentage, mean, standard deviation and confidence intervals based on the participants’ preference of the interventions. Discussions: The findings were discussed alongside the existing literature and recommendations were offered for clinical practice and further research.

Bakgrund: Pre-operativ ångest är en subjektiv upplevelse och vanligt förekommande. För patienten leder det här bland annat till ökad smärta, behov av mer narkosmedel, längre tid för återhämtning och ytterligare vårdtid. Det finns ett antal bedömningsinstrument för att mäta pre-operativ ångest, såväl som interventioner för att lindra den. Syfte: Att med en litteraturstudie beskriva vilken effekt omvårdnadsåtgärder har vid pre-operativ ångest. Metod: Uppsatsen baserades på en litteraturöversikt av studier som belyst effekten av interventioner för att lindra pre-operativ ångest. Tio artiklar valdes ut efter kvalitetsgranskning och noggrann bearbetning för att besvara syftet. Resultat: Resultatet av de tio artiklarna skapade tre övergripande rubriker som visar på effekten av de studerade interventionerna på pre-operativ ångest. Interventionerna delades sedan in efter likheter vad gällde interventionstyp. Det som i denna litteraturstudie visade sig ha bäst effekt på pre-operativ ångest var musik och beröring i olika former. Slutsats: Det finns flera omvårdnadsåtgärder som visat god effekt för att lindra pre-operativ ångest. Sjuksköterskan har en central roll i detta genom att skapa en tillitsfull relation och identifiera ångesten i ett tidigt skede. Klinisk betydelse: Om pre-operativ ångest mäts på rutin, i ett tidigt skede, med hjälp av något bedömningsinstrument har sjuksköterskan möjlighet att bemöta individens problematik. Det är därför av stor vikt att beprövade och fungerade alternativa omvårdnadsåtgärder finns att tillgå på sjukhusen, som ett komplement till farmakologisk behandling. / Background: Pre-operative anxiety is a subjective and common experience. For the patient, it leads to increased pain, the need for more anesthetic, longer recovery time and extended hospitalization. There are multiple assessment instruments to measure pre-operative anxiety, as well as interventions to alleviate it. Purpose: Review the current literature to describe the effect of nursing interventions on pre-operative anxiety. Method: This essay was based on a literature review, studies highlighted the effect of interventions to alleviate pre-operative anxiety. Ten articles were selected after quality inspection and careful processing to fulfill the purpose. Result: From the results of the ten studies, three broad headings were created that show the effect of the studied interventions on pre-operative anxiety. The interventions were then divided by commonalties related to the type of intervention. The interventions shown to have the best effect on pre-operative anxiety where music and touch in various forms. Conclusion: There are several assessment instruments and nursing interventions that have shown good efficacy in alleviating pre-operative anxiety. The nurse has a central role in this by creating a trusting relationship and identifying anxiety at an early stage to help support these individuals. Clinical significance: If pre-operative anxiety is measured on a routine basis, at an early stage, using any assessment instruments the nurse have the opportunity to respond to individual problems. Due to that, it is of utmost importance that tested and reliable interventions are available in hospitals, as a compliment to medical treatment.

The purpose of this study was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a pre-operative health education programme provided to cardiac surgery patients at a private hospital in Gauteng. A questionnaire was used to collect data and indicated that most patients were satisfied with the pre-operative education that they received before their cardiac surgery procedure, and therefore felt well prepared for the operation. It is, however, evident that family involvement with pre-operative education was not satisfactory. This lack of family involvement is a limitation in the present programme. The study also noted that patients must be informed about visiting hours, and the intense feeling of the endotracheal tube post-operatively should be emphasised. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The purpose of this study was to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a pre-operative health education programme provided to cardiac surgery patients at a private hospital in Gauteng. A questionnaire was used to collect data and indicated that most patients were satisfied with the pre-operative education that they received before their cardiac surgery procedure, and therefore felt well prepared for the operation. It is, however, evident that family involvement with pre-operative education was not satisfactory. This lack of family involvement is a limitation in the present programme. The study also noted that patients must be informed about visiting hours, and the intense feeling of the endotracheal tube post-operatively should be emphasised. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)