Determination of surgical fear levels of patients undergoing day surgery

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine surgical fear levels of undergoing day surgery patients. Method: This study was cross sectional and descriptive. The study population; the effect size was 0.25, significant value 0.05 and the power of representation of the universe was 0.95 and 162 people were determined. In the day surgery unit; a total of 162 patients who underwent surgery in general surgery (n:14), orthopedics (n:7), plastic surgery (n:86), urology (n:22) and mammographic interventional (n:33) were included. Verbal / written consent of the individuals who agreed to participate in the study; permission was obtained from the Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Dokuz Eylül University, the Chief Physician of Dokuz Eylül University Practice and Research Hospital and the Day Surgery Unit. Data was collected by the researcher from patient records and face to face interviews. In data collection; " Patient Identification Form" prepared by the researchers and ‟Surgical Fear Questionnaire" by Bağdigen and Karaman Özlü for the Turkish validity and reliability study were used. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 24.0 program with number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median, t test, Mann Witney U, One Way ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis statistics. Result: Surgical fear levels (25.26±18.16) were found to be low in patients who would undergo day surgery. It was found that women were more likely than men (t=3.79, p<0.001); The mean scores of surgical fear were significantly higher in patients who were undergoing mammographic interventional procedures than in patients undergoing plastic surgery and urology surgery (KW=6.86, p<0.001) and patients undergoing general anesthesia compared to patients undergoing local anesthesia (KW=5.47, p<0.05), it was determined. Conclusion: Surgical fear levels were low in patients who had day surgery, but gender, anesthesia type and type of surgery affected surgical fear level. Therefore, although the surgical fear level is not high in day surgical procedures, it is thought that nursing interventions will be beneficial in reducing the negative effects of the stress on the body, accelerating wound healing and reducing surgical complications by preventing the increase of existing fear. Key Words: Day surgery, patient, surgical fear, surgical fear level, nursing care