Use of a preanesthetic video for facilitation of parental education and anxiolysis before pediatric ambulatory surgery

In this study, we evaluated the effects of viewing an educational videotape about pediatric anesthesia on measures of parental knowledge of anesthesia and preoperative anxiety using a randomized, controlled design. During the ir routine preoperative visit, 85 parents of children scheduled to undergo ambulatory surgical procedures under general anesthesia were randomized to view either the experimental videotape about pediatric anesthesia or a cont rol videotape with no medical content. Before and immediately after viewing the assigned videotape, parents completed measures of situational anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-State), preoperative anxiety and need for in formation (Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale), and anest hesia knowledge (Standard Anesthesia Learning Test). Repeated-measures anal yses of variance showed that parents who viewed the experimental videotape showed a significant increase in anesthesia knowledge (P < 0.022) and a sig nificant reduction in their state of anxiety (P < 0.031), anesthesia-specif ic anxiety, and need for information (P < 0.0001) compared with the control group. These results demonstrated that viewing a preoperative educational videotape about pediatric anesthesia can provide immediate educational and anxiolytic benefits for parents of children undergoing ambulatory surgery. The duration of these benefits remains to be determined. Implications: In t his study, we demonstrated the benefits of viewing an educational videotape about pediatric anesthesia on measures of parental knowledge of anesthesia and preoperative anxiety using a randomized, controlled design. We found t hat videotape viewing facilitated preoperative preparation and lessened pre operative anxiety.