On my general surgery placement, I had a very anxious patient who underwent an anterior resection due to cancer. I saw him the day after his surgery. He constantly had beliefs that he was going to die soon, because he had known somebody who had a similar condition, and had passed away. These thoughts had made him very anxious.
The patient would continuously complain about his pain levels and his dizziness in a very anxious manner. He also seemed unusually anxious every time something happened. For example, he was bleeding slightly where the IV line inserted, and was excessively worried about this. My supervisor and I were constantly reassuring the patient that pain and dizziness are very normal after surgery, and that slight bleeding where the IV line inserts is nothing to be concerned about. I felt that this seemed to have reduced his anxiety, as well as improve his co-operation. I also found that setting goals for this patient had a positive effect, as he could see he was improving, therefore making him less anxious.
ANXIOUS PATIENTS REQUIRE A LOT OF REASSURANCE, AS WELL AS ENCOURAGEMENT. I THINK THAT A LACK OF REASSURANCE COULD THEN LEAD TO THE PATIENT BEING DEPRESSED, AND WITH DEPRESSION COMES A LACK OF MOTIVATION. THEREFORE A PATIENT WILL BE LESS LIKELY TO CO-OPERATE, AND THE OUTCOME WILL BE AFFECTED. IN THE FUTURE, I WILL ATTEMPT TO BE MORE POSITIVE, AND CONTINUE TO EDUCATE THE PATIENT THAT SYMPTOMS SUCH AS PAIN, DIZZINESS AND NAUSEA AFTER SURGERY ARE COMPLETELY NORMAL, THUS IMPROVING PATIENT COMPLIANCE. I WILL ALSO GIVE THE PATIENT AN IDEA OF HIS/HER IMPROVEMENT THROUGH GOAL SETTING AND POSITIVE FEEDBACK, WHICH WILL HOPEFULLY INCREASE PATIENT MOTIVATION.
3 comments:
All your ideas for decreasing the patients anxiety sound great. I also found that with extremerly anxious patients that keeping treatment sessions similar so they can anticipate what is happening also decreased the amount they stressed. Once again like you said communication, listening to the patients concerns, ressurance and education all contribute to decreasing a patients anxiety levels.
I totally agree when we have have anxious patients, we need to keep their enthusiasm up by continously reassuring them and educating them that what they feel is normal having undergone a surgery. Keeping the session similar is one good way that i have used and seemed to have worked well as knowing what to expect always helps decrease anxiety levels. One other thing that can work is also to remind them of their achievement at the end of each PT session so that it can be a motivational tool to keep going and help them achieve their goals as well.
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