The Effect of Video and Images of Operating Room on Patient's Anxiety Before General Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Patients experience moderate to high level of anxiety before surgery. Many strategies such as sedative-hypnotic agents are developed to improve anxiety.
The current study aimed to determine the effect of video and images of operating room on patients’ anxiety, before general surgery.
Patients and A clinical trial was performed on 60 patients undergoing general surgery referred to Shahid Beheshti hospital in Kashan, Iran, from 2014 to 2015. By convenient sampling method, sixty patients were selected and randomly allocated into the experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, the video information and images about operating room was played by a laptop for each patient for 30 minutes on the day before surgery and in the morning before surgery. The state anxiety of the two groups was measured after intervention. The control group received verbal information (the usual method in hospitals). Data analysis was conducted using χ² test, independent T-test and paired T-test by SPSS software version 16.
The mean scores of state and trait anxiety before and after intervention are presented in result section. In the experimental group, mean scores of state anxiety decreased from 3.1 ± 43.8 to 2.3 ± 32.4, following the intervention (P = 0.02). However, mean scores did not significantly change in the control group (P = 0.3).
The current study results indicated that the video and images about operating room can reduce anxiety in patients undergoing general surgery.