Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Anesthesia and surgery; are processes that always remind and sustain all the negative emotions and thoughts that can be experienced by human beings such as tension, fear, anxiety, concern,excitement and sadness. Preoperative preparation has many purposes. But the most important one is to relieve anxiety. Anxiety affects surgery, anesthesia and postoperative recovery negatively.

METHODS

In this study, the anxiety scores of patients between 18-50 years of age, whose elective plastic surgery and reconstructive operation (rhinoplasty, abdominoplasty, mammoplasty) was planned, were compared with those of the patients operated for other indications (hysterectomy, thyroidectomy, arthroscopy, inguinal hernia). Patients who would undergo plastic surgery operation were allocated to Group P, and other patients who had the same grade of lesions who would undergo other operations were classified into Group D.

RESULTS

A total of 324 patients were included in the study. 144 of the patients were taken into Group P and 180 into Group D. Considering the demographic data of the patients,statistically significant differences were found between Group P and Group D in gender, marital status, age and education groups. The mean age of Group P was significantly lower than the mean age of Group D (p<0.05). Group P STAI-I and STAI-II anxiety averages were significantly lower in Group P than Group D (p<0.05). It was observed that STAI-I and STAI-II averages of patients who would l undergo plastic surgery operation were lower than those who would undergo another surgical intervention.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

With this study, it is understood that surgical operation and anesthesia applications are important stress factors for the patients. The anesthesiologists should meet with the patients before the surgery to evaluate them in terms of risks, to inform them about the procedures to be performed and to eliminate their anxiety before surgery. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods for sedation should also be applied to prevent hemodynamic problems caused by anxiety during the operation and to speed up the postoperative recovery process.