Video Education to Improve Preoperative Anxiety in the Bariatric Surgical Patient: A Quality Improvement Project.

Purpose: Evidence supports that providing preoperative education using an audiovisual format is an effective method to reduce anxiety in the surgical patient. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to evaluate the effect of viewing a video tour of the perioperative division had on patient-perceived preoperative anxiety.

Design: A quasi-experimental design using a pre-post survey method of two individual groups.

Methods: Sixty bariatric surgery patients completed a visual analog scale for anxiety (VAS-A), consisting of 10 items, on arrival and at the end of their preassessment appointment. Thirty patients in the comparison group received preoperative education with the current process of written and verbal instructions. Thirty patients in the intervention group received education with written and verbal instructions as well as inclusion of an informational video tour of the perioperative division. A paired sample t test was used to compare VAS-A results of the comparison and intervention groups.

Findings: Data supported that bariatric patients who received only verbal and written instructions preoperatively had a statistically significant reduction in anxiety levels in five of 10 items on the VAS-A. Bariatric patients who received education with verbal and written instructions, as well as inclusion of the informational video tour, had a statistically significant reduction in self-perceived anxiety in 9 of 10 items on the VAS-A.

Conclusions: Data supported that the addition of an audiovisual component in the form of an informational tour of the perioperative division is an effective method to reduce perceived preoperative anxiety in patients having bariatric surgery.