Abstract
Psychosomatic medical treatment is considered as important as physical treatment. Especially in case the patient is an infant, similar mental treatment to the patient's parents has been thought to be necessary to alleviate their anxiety. This is based on an idea that the patient's recovery process will be affected by a degree of the parent's anxiety. In this paper, we studied how the degree of the mother's anxiety after the operation would be affected by a different approach in consultation which was made to the mother before the operation. This is part of our study in identifying a better consultation approach to the patient waiting for the operation, that may keep the patient at a better mental condition after the operation. In this study, the mothers were picked up whose child had been receiving hospital treatment and waiting for the operation. Then, they were divided into two groups. The first group received medical consultation in advance of the operation in the anesthesiology consultation room for the out-patients. The same consultation was held to the second group at the patient's sickroom. After the operation was performed, the degree of the mother's anxiety was evaluated, and then data of the first group and second group were compared. We used a questionnaire sheet when questioning the mother regarding the consultation, etc. in advance of the operation. We applied MAS (Manifest Anxiety Scale) to a survey of the mother's anxiety after the operation. For comparison purposes, either doctor or nurse in charge was questioned on what degree of the patient's anxiety 3ad appeared. In comparing the mothers who showed more than the medium degree of anxiety in MAS, the number of those who belonged to the bedside consultation was less than that of those who belonged to the out-patient consultation. In addition, those who showed more than the medium degree of anxiety in the MAS had been judged as either "no anxiety" or "a little bit anxious" by the doctor or nurse in charge. These comparison data indicate that the anxiety on the patient's side may be possibly more sophisticated than it appears to the doctor's side. The anxiety of the patient waiting for the operation can grow in the whole process from the out-patient examination to the operation, and not at a limited period after notification of the operation. Although the study is not an overall one on the said anxiety, it was confirmed that even consultation before the operation performance would nevertheless affect the patient's anxiety. If one of the family members becomes sick, all the family members become "mentally sick". The situation will become even worse in case the patient is an infant. In this situation, it is very important to alleviate the parents' anxiety, so that the sick child's mental security can be maintained. This approach will surely have a positive effect on the recovery process after the operation.
