Assessment of the need for information about planned gynecologic surgery

Abstract

The objective of the study was to assess the level of patients' need for information about the planned gynecologic surgery.

Material and Methods. The number of 173 patients preparing to undergo planned gynecological procedure were qualified for the study. The participation in the survey was entirely voluntary. Each patient was asked to fulfill the survey conducted using the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale-APAIS that enables the estimation of the patient’s need for surgery-related information. Furthermore patients’ clinical and demographic data was collected. Results were analyzed using appropriate statistical tools: the Shapiro-Wilk W-test (for distribution of the studied parameters) and the Mann-Whitney U-test (for comparing two independent groups). P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results. It was shown that premenopausal women have a greater need for information about the planned surgery than postmenopausal patients (p<0.05). Patients, who have never been operated, displayed a significantly greater need (p=0.04) for information about their planned surgery in relation to women who have already undergone surgery. The patient’s age, the phase of the menstrual cycle, the education level, the marital status, as well as the preoperative diagnosis and the type of the planned surgery did not affect the level of the preoperative information requirement (p>0.05).

Conclusions. The high level of the need for information about the planned surgery characterizes premenopausal patients and those operated for the first time.