Procedure information described services the staff would perform – skin preparation, physician visits, intravenous infusion, transfer to operating room and recovery room, and postoperative diet.

The sensory information included some procedural information; however, the emphasis was on the sensations that surgical patients usually experience: the feeling of light-headedness and sleepiness after medication; the sensations of burning, smarting, and pulling at the incision site, and of tenderness, sensitivity, pressure, and sharp traveling pain in the area of the operation; a general feeling of tiredness, dryness of the mouth, cramping, and some discomfort and weakness in movements; finally, the feeling of pulling and pinching when the stitches are removed. This group was instructed to request pain medication if it was needed.

The number of doses of parenteral analgesic that the patients received from midnight the day of surgery to midnight of the third post-op day was significantly less in those who had exercise instruction. These patients received an average of 1.65 fewer doses than patients who did not receive the exercise instructions. In addition, they ambulated more frequently.

For patients reporting relatively high pre-op fear, both procedure and sensation information tended to reduce feelings of helplessness and anger, but only sensory information tended to reduce the level of fear.

The sensory information was most dramatic in significantly reducing the length of hospitalization and in having lasting effectiveness after discharge. Patients in both procedure and sensory information groups had shorter stays than those in the general information groups, but only the mean for the sensory group was statistically significant. An average of slightly over one day less hospital care needed than the general information patients (control group).

Follow-up calls six weeks after the operations revealed that the various types of information had a significant effect on how many days after discharge the patients ventured outside their homes. In the general information group, the average was 6.8 days; for those in the procedure information group, it was 4.7 days; and for those in the sensory information group, it was 3.3 days.

…the behavioral patterns of the patients revealed that the most significant factor in assisting them to cope during the procedures was the sensory information. The greatest beneficial effect of exercise and sensory information occurred in patients who had a higher degree of pre-operative fear. The relatively fearful patients who received exercise instruction reported greater feelings of well-being and happiness and less fear, helplessness, and anger than patients who did not receive exercise instruction.  Now Dr. Johnson is beginning to study matching of specific nursing interventions to specific patient sets.