A qualitative study: Patients’ operating room experiences

Purpose

The aim of this study was to understand the operating room experiences of patients operated under regional anaesthesia.

Design

Interpretive phenomenology design was used in this study.

Methods

The universe and sample of the study consisted of 11 patients who were operated under regional anaesthesia in a training and research hospital in Istanbul. The study was conducted using the criterion sampling method and the individual in-depth face-to-face interview method. The data were collected with a patient information form and a semi-structured interview form. In the analysis of the data, the answers given by the patients to the semi-structured interview form were brought together under the themes determined in accordance with the purpose and grouped and evaluated using the content analysis method.

Findings

Nine themes and 16 sub-themes specific to the study subject were determined under four main categories. The patients described the operating room as a cold and scary place, told that they did not get enough information about the operating room and anaesthesia before the operation, complained that the clothes they wore while going to the operating room were uncomfortable.

Conclusions

Patients who underwent surgery experienced widespread anxiety and fear due to a lack of knowledge about the surgical process and the operating room environment. Due to the limited number of studies in the literature on patients' operating room experiences, we believe that the results of this study will be valuable in planning patient management in the operating room and understanding the experiences of patients undergoing surgery.