Figueroa, Gertrude Y.. Evaluating the effect of lavender oil on anxiety levels in adult pre-operative patients. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-jrr4-f243
DescriptionPurpose: To determine the effectiveness of administration of lavender oil and its impact on pre-operative anxiety levels in adult pre-operative patients.
Methodology: A quality improvement project was conducted in a same day surgery unit in an acute-care hospital over the course of a month and involved a convenience sample of 45 patients. The State Anxiety Inventory for Adults (STAI) tool was administered to subjects before and after intervention with lavender oil to determine baseline anxiety scores and post-intervention anxiety scores. Anxiety scores were then analyzed to determine effect.
Results: Analytical statistics revealed that lavender oil had a statistically significant effect in decreasing pre-operative anxiety levels in adult pre-operative patients (Z = -5.065, p = 0.001).
Implications for practice: Lavender oil can reduce pre-operative anxiety levels in adult pre-operative patients. Lavender oil's ease of administration, low cost, and low adverse effect profile make it a viable alternative to traditional medicine as a therapeutic anxiolytic agent for pre-operative anxiety. In this way, lavender oil is a feasible option to reduce the amount of sedatives and analgesics used, thereby leading to reduced cost and decrease in the incidence of any negative adverse effects that are associated with the use of such drugs. Opportunity for improvement would be change in policy, and development of a system to continually measure and evaluate outcomes for the improvement of patient care. In this way, evidence-based practice may be used to achieve better patient outcomes.