Effect of Chest Tube Withdrawal on Patients' Anxiety Levels After Thoracic Surgery

The Effect of Chest Tube Withdrawal on Patients' Anxiety Levels After Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery

Since the removal of the chest tube is a painful procedure, it can cause serious anxiety in patients. Patients state that chest tube removal is among the bad memories they experience. The source of the anxiety may be related to fear and anxiety about the pain caused by the upcoming chest tube removal procedure, or it may be the words they have heard from other patients who have had this experience before. There are a limited number of studies in the literature on anxiety that may occur in patients due to chest tube withdrawal. In addition, studies in the literature did not focus on whether there was a difference between pre-procedure and post-procedure anxiety levels. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the anxiety levels before and after the procedure and the pain levels felt in the patients due to the procedure due to chest tube withdrawal in patients who underwent VATS. In addition, it aimed to investigate whether there is any correlation between pre-procedure anxiety and pain experienced during the procedure. If a correlation is detected, the importance of pre-procedural anxiety management will be better understood, the necessity of interventions such as psychological and pharmacological treatment for anxiety will come to the fore, and new research on this subject will be needed.

Inclusion Criteria:

• The ages of 18-65
• BMI between 18-35 kg/m2
• Who have undergone VATS
• Who have a single chest tube inserted during surgery
• who have undergone resection with VATS (wedge resection, segmentectomy, lobectomy)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Who have undergone surgery under emergency conditions,
• Who have undergone thoracotomy, decortication, pleural biopsy,
• Who constantly use anti-inflammatory or analgesic drugs,
• Patients with preoperative chronic pain,
• Who have undergone thoracic surgery before,
• Patients with a history of chest tube insertion and for any reason after surgery (prolonged air leakage),
• Patients whose chest tube has not been removed for more than 7 days,
• Who have undergone pleurodesis
• Patients with psychiatric diagnoses or who use psychiatric drugs
• Who are illiterate will be excluded from the study.