Assessment of psychological status of post-operative general surgery patients

Rajesh Kumar; Srikrishna Prasad Panda; Kiran Kumar Singal

Volume : X, Issue : VI, June - 2020

Assessment of psychological status of post-operative general surgery patients

Rajesh Kumar, Srikrishna Prasad Panda, Kiran Kumar Singal

Abstract :

Objective: Psychological assessment of 130 patients who had undergone surgery at a tertiary hospital in Northern India was carried out to determine the level of post–operative anxiety or depression. Methods: Psychometric assessment was done with clinical interview and psychiatric tool HADS. Scope of the study was widened to find out the reasons for the patients’ psychological status. Results and Discussion: Results were analyzed for Anxiety and Depression levels amongst the patients. Twenty one percent patients had abnormal scores in borderline or definite range by HADS criteria. Of these patients 13% had abnormal scores in Anxiety subscale, while 7.7% had these scores in Depression subscale. Conclusion: The study showed that 21% post–operative patients had psychiatric morbidity. The reasons for this psychological status could be traced to their apprehensions about surgical outcome and ancillary issues surrounding operative intervention