Children's postoperative symptoms at home through nurse-led telephone counseling and its effects on parents' anxiety: A randomized controlled trial.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to evaluate children's postoperative symptoms at home after outpatient surgery through nurse-led telephone counseling and the effects of the nurse-led telephone counseling on parents' state-trait anxiety scores.

DESIGN AND METHODS: In this prospective randomized controlled study, nurse-led telephone counseling was provided every day to parents in the intervention group until they came for the follow-up visit. Parents of children (n = 54) ages 3-17 years who had undergone outpatient surgery for appendicitis, cholecystectomy, or ovarian cysts were eligible to participate in the study. On the first postoperative day and at the follow-up visit, the Spielberger State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was administered to parents who were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 24) and control groups (n = 30).

RESULTS: The parents reported on postoperative symptoms such as pain, activity levels, excretion, sleep, nutrition, and wound infection. While there was no difference in STAI scores for parents between the groups at the first postoperative day, there was a significant decrease in STAI scores in the intervention group versus the control group, with parents in the intervention group reporting lower anxiety scores.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Our results suggest that nurse-led telephone counseling is effective at reducing anxiety in parents of children after outpatient surgery.