Patient Anxiety Flashcards
Why do patients experience anxiousness during medical procedures?
- medical procedures are inherently threatening due to their uncertain nature (threatening situations evoke anxiety)
What post-operative outcomes are most associated with patient anxiety pre-operation?
- loss of independence
- pain
- possibility of disfigurement
- waking during surgery
- dying
What methods can be used to help prepare patients for medical procedures?
Increase the patient’s sense of control:
- procedural information
- sensory information (explaining what the patient will feel during anaesthesia/surgery etc.)
- behavioural instruction (eg. halting alcohol consumption for a period of time pre-surgery)
- cognitive coping
- other techniques (modelling, emotion/psycho-therapeutic discussion, relaxation, hypnosis)
How can patients use their own coping styles to help prepare them for medical procedures?
Personality styles:
- monitors: copes by seeking out detailed information
- blunters: copes by avoidance behaviour to minimise anxiety-provoking situation
How does psychological preparation promote recovery from medical procedures?
- reduces stress
- reduces sympathetic arousal
- improves immunological responses (modulation of immune and endocrine function)
What are the consequences of high patient anxiety in relation to a medical procedure?
Link between patient anxiety and:
- more post-operative pain
- need for more analgesic
- longer hospital stays
- increased complications
- anxiety and depression after surgery
Describe the psychological influences on recovery from surgery in patients with anxiety
Communication: patients less likely to understand the information they are told
Adherence: patients less likely to adhere to coughing and breathing exercises, and moving around after surgery (which promotes recovery)
Pain management: can influence type and amount of anaesthetic
