Operative medical procedures can be a source of stress for patients and therefore a lot of attention has been focused on techniques that have the potential to make preparation and recovery of patients easier. In the quantitative part of our research we used a battery of questionnaires to explore the differences in recovery between participants that listened to our extended preoperative informing, and participants that received usual preoperative care. In the qualitative part, we used semi-structured interviews to gain insight about the experience and informedness of patients before and after their hip arthroscopy. The results of the interview revealed that during the preoperative stage, the patients were mostly well informed and had mostly no fear, with the exception of anesthesia and incomplete recovery. During postoperative stage some of the participants expressed dissatisfaction due to their long recovery, and wished for more information on postoperative complications. The results of the questionnaires revealed no differences between the informed and uninformed group neither in knowledge nor in different aspects of recovery (pain sensation and functional limitations, sport and recreational activities, pain catastrophizing, depression and anxiety). Positive mental health, which was used as a covariate in the comparison of the groups, was
significantly correlated only to the aspect of sport and recreational activities. Even though there were no differences in recovery between the two groups, our participants thought of preoperative informing as beneficial and said its biggest strong point was contact with the surgeon and the interactivity of the lecture. Based on our findings we developed guidelines for further informing of the patients. Our research was gravely affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and therefore further research of preoperative informing and other interventions
should ensure a bigger numerus of participants and more rigorous methodology. We also recommend measuring the characteristics that could be critical for recovery and implementation of targeted interventions.
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