Psychological Effects of Preoperative Doctor-Patient Communications

The data presented are part of an investigation of psychological aspects of preoperative information carried out on patients of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. The objective of this study was to evaluate the emotional and communicative influences on behavior and experience of patients and physicians during the preoperative information visits in cardiovascular surgery. We want to confine ourselves to the special aspect of preoperative anxiety and the methods used to cope with it.