Patient Communication before General Anesthesia to Reduce Post-Operative Pain and Agitation after Endoscopic Sinus Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Patients often name post-operative pain as the most horrifying aspect of the surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of communication with patients on post-operative pain and agitation in the patients recovering from endoscopic sinus surgery.
This was a randomized clinical trial. Sixty patients scheduled for endoscopic sinus surgery were randomly allocated to control and intervention groups (30 patients in each group). A supportive and informative session was established for 20-30 minutes in two stages for the intervention group while the control group received routine information. After surgery, pain and agitation were assessed using the non-verbal pain scale, visual analog scale and Riker's sedation-agitation score.
The average pain scores in the recovery room by non-verbal pain scale and visual analog scale were (3.4±1.6) and (6.2±3.0) for the control group and (1.2±1.5) and (3.0±3.3) for the intervention group, respectively (P≤0.001). The average agitation score in the recovery room for the control group and the intervention group were (4.6±0.6) and (4.1±0.3), respectively (P=0.008).
The results demonstrate that simple communication techniques before the surgery can be effective in reducing post-operative pain and agitation in patients recovering from endoscopic sinus surgery.