Coronary artery surgery patients who listened to tape also had less anxiety, depression
WEDNESDAY, April 21 (HealthDay News) -- Audiotaping a cardiac surgery patient's pre-surgical consultation, and providing the patient with the tape to review, substantially increases his or her knowledge and sense of control, while reducing anxiety and depression, according to a study in the April issue of the Archives of Surgery.
Pankaj Kumar Mishra, of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in the United Kingdom, and colleagues randomized 84 patients who were to have first-time coronary artery surgery and had a pre-surgery consultation with their surgeon to receive either an audiotape of their actual consultation, a generic audiotape with scripted general information about coronary artery surgery, or no audiotape at all.
The researchers found that the mean knowledge score of patients in the consultation-audiotape group was substantially higher than those receiving the general tape or no tape at all (mean scores, 31.97, 19.64, and 13.79, respectively), as was their sense of control. The group that received the audiotaped recording of their consultation also reported less anxiety and depression.
"Providing an audiotaped recording of the consultation before cardiac surgery appears to improve patients' knowledge and perceptions of control of their health status and to reduce anxiety and depression," the authors write.
Abstract
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