The effects of preoperative education on the thoracic surgical patient

• Author / Creator

  Veenstra, James

• Pain and anxiety are common among patients having surgery and education is essential in enabling patients to cope with postoperative pain and anxiety and improve outcomes. Since there is a trend for shorter hospital stays and a scarcity of supportive healthcare resources, patients will be required to be more self-sufficient. Testing of a randomized preoperative education program was conducted, to see if the program improves the thoracic surgical patient’s ability to improve their postoperative pain, anxiety and Quality of Life. This study found that there was no statistically significant difference in pain, anxiety or Quality of Life (with the exception of diarrhea) scores between the education intervention group and the standard group. There were significant clinical alterations in postoperative scores from baseline. Further research is needed to determine if other specific treatments for pain, anxiety and Quality of Life are warranted.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Pain
  • Postoperative
  • Anxiety
  • Thoracotomy
  • Education

• Graduation date

  Spring 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Nursing

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R34W9G

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.