Assessment of behavioural preparedness on recovery outcomes in patients undergoing abdominal surgeries
Author(s): KS Uplabdh Gopal and Suhas N Jajoo*
Abstract
This is a cross-sectional study within comparison groups to assess the effects of behavioural preparedness and prior sensitization on psychological aspects and variables such as post-operative pain intensity, measures of physical well-being, length of hospital stay, switchover time from injectable to oral analgesics and user satisfaction. The study will be undertaken on patients in the In-patient department of Surgery in a rural tertiary care hospital in central India, during a period spanning 2 months. All adult patients (aged 18-60) undergoing elective abdominal surgical procedures under anaesthesia in the IPD of Surgery are eligible. Patients from other departments or those undergoing emergency surgeries, local anaesthesia or with severe morbidities are not included. The patients will be randomly selected and interviewed pre-operatively, dividing them into two groups, those receiving the intervention, and those receiving standard care with no intervention. The investigator will provide an oral presentation to the intervention group regarding their recovery outcomes and expectations. Subjects are subsequently evaluated with a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scale for Pain, RAND SF-36 questionnaire for physical mobility, RAND PSQ-18 questionnaire for user satisfaction, length of hospital stay and analgesic switchover time on a survey form and the Spiel Berger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) forms Y1 and Y2 for comparison of pre-and post-operative negative effects. Data will be analysed with the help of SPSS (version 15.0), IBM Corporation. Effects of the intervention on recovery outcomes will be compared via the Chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney U test for comparison of qualitative data between the two groups and the student’s unpaired t-test for comparison of quantitative data between the groups. Wilcoxon’s Signed Rank test and the student’s paired t-test will be used for analysing qualitative and quantitative input between pre-and post-operative states. The study seeks to determine if a significant difference occurs from providing patients with prior knowledge about their outcomes and establishing the benefits of psychological preparedness as a cost-effective method in improving outcomes and post-operative recovery.