Assessing Preoperative Anxiety: Nurses Versus Health Care Assistants

Abstract

Purpose: Our objective was to compare the difference in anxiety levels self-reported by patients and those estimated by health care assistants and nurses in two ambulatory surgery settings.

Design: We performed a prospective study.

Methods: Patients' preoperative anxiety was graded using a visual analog scale.

Findings: Between September 1 and November 31, 2019, a total of fifteen health care assistants and fourteen nurses assessed anxiety scores of 170 patients, including 92 women and 78 men. At admission, the mean visual analog scale anxiety score declared to health care assistants and nurses was 5.3 (SD = 2.9) and 4.2 (SD = 3.1), respectively (P = .02). The correlation between health care assistants' assessment of the patients' anxiety and the declared level of anxiety was significantly higher than nurses' assessment (r = 0.83 vs r = 0.12; P < .001).

Conclusions: Nurse assistants estimate patients' preoperative anxiety with more accuracy than nurses in our hospital. Nursing education curriculum should continue to include addressing preoperative patient anxiety.

Keywords: ambulatory surgery; health care assistants; nurses; patient assessment; preoperative anxiety.