Abstract
Background and Objective: Admission to hospital and the prospect of surgery is accepted as extremely anxiety-provoking, resulting in behavioral and cognitive sequel, which can have far-reaching effects on recovery. The prospect of having surgery generates anxiety whether the surgery is a major or minor procedure. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-operative nursing visit on preoperative anxiety in patients operated on for ENT problems
Material and Methods: Using a controlled trial, 45 patients having elective ENT surgery, were visited by perioperative nurse (experimental group). A control group on 45 patients received routine care alone. Outcome measures used in the study was pre-operative waking serum cortisol level.
Results: The results showed that mean cortisol level of patients in the experimental group was 16.92±6.78 (micg /100), and mean cortisol level of patients in the control group was 27.88±6.47 (micg /100).
Conclusion: The results showed that cortisol levels of patients in the experimental group were lower than patients in the control group, and this deference is statistically significant. According to significant deference between two groups, it is concluded that pre-operative nursing visit can decrease waking cortisol levels of patients having an elective ENT surgery.