This book is centrally concerned with the formal management of preoperative anxiety. The vast majority of patients experience varying degrees of anxiety when entering hospital for surgery and yet little formal intervention is commonly provided. This is the first book of its kind to be written for nurses exclusively concerning the complete formal pre- and postoperative management of anxiety in relation to modern, elective, adult day surgery. During the early 1970s classic nursing studies suggested information provision to be crucial for effective inpatient preoperative anxiety management. However, following such early recommendations no other formal aspects of psychoeducational care have impacted on mainstream surgical nursing intervention. Physical aspects of care have dominated proceedings for the last three decades or more, whereas psychoeducational aspects have largely remained informal, marginal issues. Both surgery and anaesthesia have changed dramatically during this period
and nursing intervention must now do likewise.