Evaluating The Effectiveness of Nurse-Led Education on The Anxiety Level of Preoperative Candidates for Opening Vascular Access in Shariati Hospital

Background: Every year, many patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) undergo surgeries to provide suitable vessel access for hemodialysis. These surgeries cause significant anxiety in these patients. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of nurse-led training on reducing the level of anxiety experienced by these patients. Methods: 38 patients were randomly selected from the candidates for vascular access opening at Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran. They were divided equally into two groups: cases and controls. The anxiety level was measured in both groups using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory at baseline. After 30 minutes of personalized training, the anxiety level was reevaluated in the cases and statistically compared with the anxiety level before the intervention using a paired t-test. Results: The mean baseline anxiety level was 40.94 in the cases and 40.42 in the controls. These numbers changed to 34.78 in the cases and 40.05 in the controls after the training intervention. Statistical comparison revealed a significant decrease in the case group (p = 0.048), while the observed difference was statistically insignificant in the controls (p = 0.788). Conclusions: Providing an appropriate personalized nurse-led educational package can significantly reduce the anxiety level in preoperative candidates for vascular access opening in kidney failure cases. Further studies are required to better develop the content of this training and also to determine whether a gap between the training and surgery is required to increase effectiveness.