The study, conducted by Akihito Kakinuma, MD, and colleagues at the Teikyo University School of Medicine in Tokyo, looked at the effect of showing patients an interactive animated video that provided basic information on anesthetic procedures. The video covered the risks, benefits and alternatives to anesthesia.
The study looked at 211 patients scheduled for cancer surgery under general or combined general and epidural anesthesia. The patients were randomly assigned to the video or non-video group. After watching the video, the patients were visited by an anesthesiologist who performed a preanesthetic interview and routine risk assessment. The patients who did not watch the video also went through the interview and assessment. Patients were asked to complete the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and a 14-point scale of knowledge test before the anesthesiologist’s visit and again on the day of surgery.
Knowledge of anesthesia was around 11 percent better in the video group; however, there was no difference in preanesthetic anxiety between the two groups.
Read the abstract of the study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia.
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