Role of detailed information about anaesthesia during PAC to reduce patient's anxiety during the perioperative period

Background: Perioperative anxiety may adversely influence anaesthetic induction and patient’s recovery. Pharmacological interventions include the use of narcotics, sedatives and anxiolytics. However, such drug interventions are typically accompanied by adverse reactions. Perioperative anxiety experienced by patients can be significantly diminished through the provision of comprehensive information regarding the anaesthesia procedure, surgical procedure and perioperative events during the pre-anaesthetic assessment conducted in an outpatient consultation clinic. Aims: This prospective study was conducted to assess the impact of providing comprehensive information on alleviating patient anxiety throughout the perioperative period. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on 60 patients to assess patient’s perioperative anxiety for anaesthesia and surgery. All study participants were asked to mark their pre-operative anxiety on the Visual Analogue Scale-Anxiety (VAS-A) and asked to fill the questionnaire of Amsterdam Pre-operative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS). Results: During the pre-information evaluation, patient’s mean VAS-A score was 4.73 ± 2.75 which decreased to 3.65 ± 2.53 in post-information evaluation (P = 0.027). The overall APAIS score during pre-information and post-information evaluation was 17.4 ± 8.06 and 13.18 ± 7.06 (P = 0.002). The mean APAIS score for anaesthesia and surgery during the pre-information evaluation was 2.67 ± 1.46 and 3.13 ± 1.54, respectively, which decreased to 2.04 ± 1.18 and 2.35 ± 1.30, respectively, in post-information evaluation. This difference in APAIS score evaluation during pre-information and post-information evaluation for anaesthesia (P = 0.0105) and surgery (P = 0.003) was statistically significant. Conclusion: Perioperative anxiety experienced by patients can be effectively mitigated by providing comprehensive information pertaining to anaesthesia procedures, surgical procedures and perioperative events during the pre-anaesthetic assessment conducted within an outpatient consultation clinic.