The effect of postanesthetic suggestion on postoperative recovery

Date

1987-05

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Publisher

Texas Tech University

Abstract

Research supporting the use of preoperative and intraoperative interventions to improve postoperative recovery has been published in the literatures of psychology, psychiatry, and nursing. Bensen (1971) reported that a post anesthetic suggestion, administered to surgery patients awakening in the recovery room, reduced postoperative pain and contributed to an uneventful recovery. Bensen's work, however, was anecdotal; no control subjects were used. The present study furthered Bensen's work by comparing postoperative recovery of patients who received a post anesthetic suggestion with that of patients who received a brief preoperative hypnotic induction and patients in a no-treatment control condition. To assess the contribution of the post anesthetic state of consciousness to the action of the post anesthetic suggestion, an information control group in which subjects heard the post anesthetic suggestion tape preoperatively was used. Postoperative recovery measures included amount of postoperative medication used, number of times postoperative pain medications were administered, level of postoperative state anxiety, length of postoperative hospitalization, and self-reported postoperative pain. Subjects were 60 women undergoing elective cholecystectomy. To assess the contribution of the post anesthetic state of consciousness to the action of post anesthetic suggestion, an information control group in which subjects heard the postanesthetic suggestion preoperatively was also used. Statistical analysis yielded no differences between the post anesthetic suggestion group and the no treatment control group in any of the dependent measures. A trend toward reduced pain medication use by subjects in the information control and hypnosis groups was observed.

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