Patienters rädsla och oro inför generell anestesi

Sammanfattning: Background: Today most patients know that the risks with general anesthesia are rare but still many of them are considerably worried about the procedure. Preoperative anxiety can have a negative effect on the patients in the postoperative phase. Purpose: The purpose with this study where to examine patients that were staying at three wards in a hospital in the middle part of Sweden and see if they had anxiety about general anesthesia and why. Method: This study was based on a quantitative survey that used a convenience sample. The questionnaires were given to 38 patients at the included wards in the postoperative phase. Results: This study found that half of the participants were a little worried about the general anesthesia. None of the participants were very worried about the general anesthesia. The primary reasons for the anxiety reported by the participants were waking up during surgery, nausea, vomit and postoperative pain. Seventy-nine percent of the participants felt that they had enough information about the general anesthesia. This survey found no significant relationship between well informed patients and the degree of anxiety. Conclusion: There is some anxiety about general anesthesia. The majority of the participants were satisfied with the preoperative information. This study wants to encourage other quantitative and qualitative studies to create a better understanding why patients have this anxiety and how often patients have these emotions.