Patient psychologic preparation for invasive procedures: an integrative review

If the physiologic symptoms of anxiety occur during a critical procedure, the length and difficulty of the procedure may be increased, inaccurate data may be obtained from the procedure, and physical harm may occur as a result. To avoid these negative outcomes, it would be beneficial to reduce the amount of anxiety felt by patients undergoing invasive procedures by psychologically preparing them for the procedure. Fourteen studies were found that examined the effects of different types of preparational treatment on the anxiety levels of patients undergoing procedures in the hospital. Overall, the research studied strongly supports the notion that preprocedural intervention reduces the amount of anxiety felt by the patients. The question remains as to what type of preprocedural preparation works best to reduce anxiety. Because this research applies to any procedure performed in a hospital, it is appropriate to extend the implications to include peripheral angiography. It is essential for vascular nurses to implement some type of psychologic preparation for their patients undergoing vascular procedures to improve their outcome and quality of life after the procedure.