Authors

Teresa Santos Boya1, José Ignacio Calvo Arenillas2

Position

1Enfermera. Servicio de Urgencias. Hospital Comarcal de Medina del Campo (Valladolid)2Doctor en Medicina y Cirugía. Catedrático de Escuela Universitaria. Universidad de Salamanca

Contact address

Teresa Santos Boya. C/ Corte de Novillos, 6-bajo. 47400 Medina del Campo (Valladolid).

Contact email: tsantosboya@yahoo.es

Abstract

Objective: to assess the anxiety level of patients hospitalized in the ER Observation Unit of the Hospital de Medina del Campo (UOSU), as well as to determine the occurrence of hospital stressful events, and to quantify the level of anxiety generated by each of them.
Method: an observational, descriptive and transversal study was conducted on 18-to-80-year old patients with non-scheduled hospital admission, during six and 24 hours. A validated questionnaire following the Likert scale was used; this was prepared on the basis of the Hospital Stress Rating Scale by Volicer and Bohanon.
Results: the study included 212 patients: 129 men and 83 women. From these, 40% presented a condition associated to Internal Medicine; 84% were aware of what their disease entailed, 87% knew their test results, and 35% thought that something serious could be happening to them. The highest levels of stress during hospitalization were caused by: the fact of not knowing the time of hospital discharge (67% of patients), sudden admission to hospital (91% of patients), and obtaining pain relief (72% of patients).    
Conclusions: pain is the hospital stressful event par excellence; and among hospitalized patients, chest pain generated the highest level of anxiety, as well as the potential consequences of the disease and the lack of information about it. On the contrary, the drawbacks associated with hospitalization (sleeping with strangers, wearing hospital clothes) were the events that caused the lowest levels of anxiety.

Keywords:

Anxiety; questionnaire; patient; observation unithospital stressful events

Versión en Español

Título:

Ansiedad del paciente hospitalizado en una Unidad de Observación de Urgencias de un hospital comarcal