Psychologic preparation to decrease anxiety associated with cardiac catheterization

Undergoing a cardiac catheterization arouses anxiety of most patients. Coronary angiography plays an essential role in the diagnostic evaluation of the patient with suspected or known cardiac disease, and it is an important preoperative cardiac screening protocol for vascular surgery patients. Studies on psychologic preparation have concluded that preparatory techniques--specifically, sensory-perceptual informational and modeling--are beneficial in reducing patients' anxiety in various situations, including cardiac catheterization. The purpose of this study was to compare the preparatory informative (sensory and procedural data) and modeling strategies in reducing anxiety before cardiac catheterization. The research hypothesis that persons (n = 30) given a combination of sensory-perceptual informational preparation and modeling preparation would exhibit less anxiety than persons receiving one preparation alone was not supported. Although no significant difference existed between the postintervention anxiety scores for the 3 different treatment groups, a significant difference existed between the preintervention and postintervention anxiety scores overall. Therefore, this study validates the psychologic and nursing literature that states psychologic preparation is beneficial in reducing patients' anxiety before a stressful experience such as cardiac catheterization. The study findings also revealed an interesting trend for employing a modeling technique. This information contributes to nursing knowledge and may alter and make more effective the nature of standard psychologic preparation for patients undergoing any invasive procedure.