Mind Over Scalpel: Effectiveness of Preoperative Surgical Education

Journal of the American College of Surgeons (09/04/25) Hall, Anne E.; Perrotta, Amanda T.; Argame, Alexander A.; et al.

A systematic review and meta-analysis investigated how multimodal preoperative educational interventions affect surgical outcomes. The review, which included 40 randomized controlled trials published over the past 20 years, involved more than 4,100 patients. The interventions were categorized as human-contact, such as in-person education or interactive educational sessions; written materials, using pamphlets or booklets; digital, using websites, videos, or virtual reality; and hybrid, which was a combination of the three options. The pairwise meta-analysis found an association between preoperative educational interventions and improvements in length of stay, use of analgesics, anxiety, quality of life, patient satisfaction, and knowledge. The network meta-analysis found an association between human-contact interventions and reduced length of hospital stay. Postoperative analgesic use also decreased with the written materials and hybrid interventions, while factors such as postoperative pain, satisfaction, and knowledge all were improved with digital educational interventions.

Read More