Pre-surgery education for elective cardiac surgery patients: a survey from the patient's perspective

Multidisciplinary pre-admission patient education is commonly recommended for elective surgery patients, and may involve the provision of written information and presentations from the health team. However, the occupational therapy role with elective sternotomy patients in our setting is confined to the post-operative period. We aimed to evaluate cardiac surgery patients' perception of the effectiveness and timing of pre-admission multidisciplinary written information and post-operative verbal education provided by occupational therapy.

This cross-sectional study involved a written survey, which was posted to 375 people who had undergone cardiac surgery in 2009-2010. Questions were designed to elicit patient perceptions of both pre-operative written information and post-operative education relating to post-operative precautions and return to activity received from occupational therapy.

There were 118 surveys returned equalling a 31.4% response rate. Eighty-nine per cent of respondents recalled receiving and reading the pre-surgery information booklet, and this was significantly correlated with feeling prepared for the post-operative experience and adherence with precautions (P < 0.0001). Exactly 30.4% of respondents stated that they experienced stress and anxiety in relation to post-operative expectations, and 47.3% felt the information provided in the occupational therapy education sessions would have been more beneficial for their understanding and coping if provided prior to surgery.

Multidisciplinary written pre-surgery education appears to be providing patients with a good understanding of what to expect following surgery. The results suggest that pre-operative verbal education from occupational therapy would assist in reducing anxiety in a subgroup of patients.