The effect of informing patients undergoing ERCP (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) in the gastroenterology clinic on their anxiety levels

Aim: This study aims to determine the effect of informing patients undergoing ERCP on anxiety. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted with the pre-test post-test semi-experimental research model. The data of this study was collected from 132 patients admitted to the Gastroenterology Clinic of Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital for ERCP between January 2015 and April 2015. Of the 132 patients, 66 were in the experimental group and 66 were in the control group. Patients older than 18 years of age, who had no psychiatric disease, and who had no previous ERCP experience were included in the study. For data collection, a questionnaire prepared by the researcher to determine the socio-demographic characteristics of the patients was used as well as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory used for determining their level of anxiety. Data obtained were analyzed by means of percentage, mean, variance, t test, paired t test, chi-square test, fisher's exact chi-square test, correlation analysis, and evaluated with SPSS 22.0 program in a computer environment. Ethical principles were followed. Results: There was no significant difference between the control variables of the experimental and control groups in the study (p>0.05). The state-trait anxiety pre-test score averages of the patients were found to be close to each other, according to their socio-demographic characteristics, except gender (p>0.05). When the state-trait anxiety pre-test and post-test averages of patient groups were compared, no significant difference was found between the pre-test score averages; and in the comparison of the post-test averages, the anxiety level of the test group was found to be statistically lower than the control group (p<0.05). When we look at the intragroup comparisons of the experimental and control groups, there was no significant difference between the pre- and post-test anxiety scores of the control group (p>0.05), whereas the mean post-test score of the experimental group was significantly lower than the mean pre-test score (p<0.05). Conclusion: The low-level of state-trait and continuity anxiety scores obtained in the experimental group for the ERCP procedure, compared to the control group, shows that informing the patients affects them positively, and reduces their level of anxiety. Key Words: Anxiety, ERCP, Informing, Nursing