Determining of fear of preoperativepain in patients

In the preoperative period, a significant number of patients experience fear of complications related to surgery, fear of death and postoperative pain. Since pain-related fear will impair a person's medical condition, conditions that may cause pain and preoperative pain should be evaluated. The research was carried out to determine the fear of surgery-related pain in the preoperative period. This descriptive-cross-sectional study was carried out with 419 patients who would undergo surgery in the surgical clinics of Çukurova University Balcalı Hospital. In the study, "Patient Identifier Information Form" and "Fear of Pain Questionnaire-III (FPQ-III)" were used as data collection tools. Regardless of the type of surgery, approximately 90% of patients stated that they will experience moderate and severe pain after surgery. A significant correlation was found between the pain levels that patients thought they would experience and gender, educational status, previous experience of severe pain and preoperative information (p <0.05). The total FPQ-III scores of the patients were 75.1 ± 20.2, and they experienced the most "fear of severe pain" (30.64 ± 9.5). Patients who have experienced severe pain and thought that they will experience postoperative pain had high scores of "severe pain fear" and "fear of medical pain" (p <0.05). As a result, almost all of the patients feared that they will experience moderate to severe postoperative pain in the preoperative period. In this context, considering the characteristics of the patient, the coping skills of the patient should be supported before facing the pain. Reducing fear of pain in the preoperative period will reduce postoperative pain and positively affect patient outcomes.