Effectiveness of Gender Matching of the Urological Patients with the Surgical Team: A Quasi-experimental Study

Urological surgery could be an unpleasant experience for patients due to the need for exposure of the patient's genital area. The present study aimed to determine the effect of gender matching of urological patients and the surgery team on anxiety, shame, and vital signs.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Hamadan, Iran, in 2021. A total of 160 patients were selected via convenience sampling and randomly divided into control and intervention groups (n=80 in each group). The patients in the control group were admitted to the operating room as usual, but the gender of the surgical team was matched with the patients of the intervention group. The data were collected using the Vital Signs Flow Sheet, Spielberger's State Anxiety Inventory, and Cook’s Internalized Shame Scale and finally analyzed in SPSS software (version 16).

Based on the findings of this study, the two groups were homogeneous in terms of demographic and clinical characteristics (P>0.05). At the beginning of the study, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of variables of vital signs, anxiety, and internalized shame (P>0.05). After admission to the operating room, the rate of vital signs, except for temperature, was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (P<0.05). Moreover, the level of anxiety and shame of the intervention group was significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05).

If gender of patients is matched with the surgical team, the patients will feel less ashamed and anxious, and the level of vital signs will be closer to normal.