Undergoing Orthopaedic Day Surgery: What Factors Are Associated With patients' Feeling of Safety and Their Recovery?
Fanny Larsson, Åsa Engström, Ulrica Strömbäck and 1 others
PMID 39528409WHAT IT FOUND
Patients after orthopaedic day surgery who were more anxious before surgery felt less safe and reported poorer recovery.
Those with previous surgery felt safer. Feeling safer was linked with better recovery.
Key findings
01Higher preoperative anxiety was associated with lower perceived feeling of safety during the perioperative period.
02Previous surgical experience was associated with higher perceived feeling of safety.
03Higher perceived feeling of safety was associated with better postoperative recovery, and preoperative anxiety was associated with worse recovery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it can only show associations and cannot prove that anxiety, safety, or previous surgery caused different recovery. Participants were asked about surgery approximately 3 weeks later, which can introduce recall bias. The response rate was reported as 51% in methods and 48% in limitations, so patients who did not respond may have differed. The sample had more women than men, 61.7% women and 38.3% men, which may introduce gender bias. The regression models used 187 and 171 participants because of missing data. The models did not include medical background factors such as ASA levels or underlying diseases, and they accounted for only 14.2% of the variation in feeling safe scores and 13.7% of the variation in recovery scores. Scores were self-reported, so social desirability bias is possible.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that reducing preoperative anxiety or improving patients' sense of safety will improve recovery. This was a cross-sectional survey of self-reported experiences after surgery, and it only showed associations.