• Spine · Feb 2016

    Can Intraoperative Text Messages (Short Message Services (SMS)) Reduce Parental Anxiety of Children Undergoing Posterior Spinal Fusion Surgery for Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS)?

    • Mun Keong Kwan, Chee Kidd Chiu, Chiao Chin Gan, and Chan Chris Yin Wei CY.
    • Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
    • Spine. 2016 Feb 1; 41 (4): E225-30.

    Study DesignA prospective, nonrandomized study.ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of periodic intraoperative text messages (SMS) in reducing parental anxiety level during posterior spinal fusion (PSF) surgery for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients.Summary Of Background DataNo studies have reported the use of intraoperative SMS to reduce level of anxiety in parents of patients who are undergoing AIS corrective surgery.MethodsParents of 50 AIS patients were studied at two centers. Group 1 did not receive any SMS whereas those in Group 2 received periodic SMS. Parents' anxiety were assessed using a validated Visual Analog Scale for anxiety (VAS-A) and the anxiety component of the Hospital Anxiety Depression Score (HADS). The assessment was carried out at five different periods: (P1) 6 hours before the surgery; (P2) at separation in the operation theatre; (P3) 1 hour after commencement of surgery; (P4) immediately after completion of surgery; (P5) 1 day postsurgery.ResultsA total of 96 parents (47 fathers, 49 mothers) were involved in this study. Both groups were comparable in terms of demographics and education level. The mean VAS for Group 1 peaked at P2 and the HADS scores peaked at P3. The anxiety level of Group 1 remained high at P2, P3, and P4. There was a steady decline in parental anxiety in Group 2 from P1 to P5. There were significantly lower mean VAS score and HADS score for both father and mother in Group 2 during P3 and P4. The mean HADS scores for parents in Group 1 at P2 and P3 were higher than 8, which indicate abnormal anxiety.ConclusionThe anxiety levels of parents receiving the SMS were significantly lower than parents who did not receive any messages. Thus, intraoperative SMS is an effective intervention to decrease parental anxiety of AIS patients undergoing PSF surgery.Level Of Evidence3.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…