Which of the following types of preoperative teaching gives patients a description of the physical sensations?

Patient education is a fundamentally important and perhaps underestimated aspect of the patient care pathway. It has been well established that preoperative education can lead to improved physical and psychological outcomes [1], [2]. The traditional practice of educating patients is by providing information orally through face-to-face physician-patient interaction. Written material, typically in the form of an educational leaflet, is often provided as a supplement [3]. It has been reported, however, that standard methods result in inadequate patient comprehension and low recall and understanding of the information discussed during informed consent [4], [5], [6]. Possible explanations for this include reluctance of the patient to ask clarifying questions, [7] insufficient or rushed discussion due to time constraints of consultation, [8] and limited ability of the physician to effectively explain the information. [5].

Quality patient education is a necessary prerequisite to patient preparedness and understanding, and even more so in the preoperative period, which can be an especially overwhelming and psychologically burdensome time for patients [9]. Patients awaiting to undergo surgery report feeling fear and anxiety over the outcomes of surgery, the risk of potential complications, and the uncertainty of what could happen during their hospital stay. [10], [11] This can negatively impact patients’ postoperative recovery or, in some extreme cases, lead to patients delaying their surgery or pursuing non-surgical treatment instead [12]. It is therefore essential that such patients receive educational interventions that meet their specific information needs, contribute to their overall satisfaction, and help to psychologically prepare them for surgery.

The video medium serves as an effective tool in general patient education and there is a growing body of literature supporting this notion. With the capacity to be viewed at each patient’s own pace, videos offer a higher level of flexibility and autonomy in their learning, which empowers them to feel more in control of their care [9]. Additionally, information delivered through Video is standardized, thereby eliminating any gaps in the flow of knowledge that may arise through conventional verbal education. Physicians agree that the use of multimedia1 enhances patient comprehension, provides rich visual presentation, and is beneficial in explaining more complex issues to patients [13]. It is evident that there is enormous potential for Video in preoperative education, especially given that the video medium is accessible, cost-effective, and can be easily integrated into clinical practice.

The value of incorporating video-based education into the healthcare process has been made evident by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly disrupted traditional face-to-face interactions between physician and patient. In response to these communication challenges, technology-based approaches to healthcare delivery have been rapidly and widely adopted, with telemedicine being recognized as a safe, effective, economical, timely, and patient-centered platform [14]. Although multimedia is being more and more incorporated into routine patient education, there has been no recent critical assessment, to our knowledge, of video-based education in a preoperative context specifically. In an increasingly digital era, we are at a critical junction where we must address this gap, and through doing so, we hope to better inform practices in patient education and care. In this article, we aim to evaluate the volume and scope of the current evidence on the effectiveness of preoperative patient education videos through a systematic review of the literature.

Search strategy and study selection

A review of the literature was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRIMSA) guidelines (see Fig. 1). The databases included in the search were PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. The following search terms were used across all databases: “preoperative,” “patient education,” and “video”. The search was not limited to a set publication date range and included peer-reviewed journal articles up to and including December

Study characteristics

This review identified 18 articles, summarized in Table 1, fully meeting eligibility criteria. Randomized controlled trials represented just over half of the papers (n = 10), followed by five prospective observational studies and three quasi-experimental design studies. Participants in these studies were adults> 18 years of age and received a Video intervention or were assigned to the control group prior to undergoing surgery. There was a total of 1969 participants, with sample sizes ranging

Discussion

This review assessed the effectiveness of utilizing the video modality to supplement the education of patients undergoing surgery. Overall, the results of this review suggest that preoperative educational videos can be quite beneficial in improving patients’ satisfaction, [16], [17], [18], [23] knowledge, [9], [19], [20], [25], [26] understanding, [18], [23], [25] preparedness, [9], [16] anxiety, [16], [17], [18], [27], [28], [29] and postoperative quality of life [31]. However, there is some

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Kathleen Tom: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the version to be submitted.P Terry Phang: (1) the conception and design of the study, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data, (2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content, (3) final approval of the

Conflicts of interest

The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

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