Effect of video-based patient information on patients’ anxiety and pain levels before skin biopsy: a randomized controlled study

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Effective use of technology can provide advantages for both patients and physicians in skin biopsy practice. We aimed to investigate the effects of video-based information on the anxiety, pain and satisfaction levels of patients undergoing biopsy.

Methods

Patients were randomized and divided into two groups as video-informed and verbally informed. The anxiety levels were evaluated using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and measuring the physiological parameters, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and respiratory rate. After the informing process, the STAI’s state form was reevaluated, and physiological parameters were measured again. After the biopsy, the level of pain was evaluated using the visual analog scale (VAS), and patient satisfaction was assessed with the satisfaction scale.

Results

Fifty-two in the video-informed group and 50 in the verbally informed group completed the study. Compared to the baseline values, the STAI and STAI-state scores, systolic blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate of the patients in the video-informed group decreased (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001, p = 0.003, p = 0.007, and p < 0.0001, respectively), and the systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate values decreased in the verbally informed group (p < 0.0001, p = 0.014, p = 0.005, and p < 0.0001, respectively). According to VAS, 98.1% of the patients in the video-informed group and 86% of those in the verbally informed group described no or mild pain, and pain levels were lower in the video-informed group (p = 0.030).

Conclusions

Video-based information prior to skin biopsy may be more useful in managing anxiety and pain in patients than traditional verbal information.

KEYWORDS:

• Anxiety
• biopsy
• pain
• skin biopsy
• video

Declaration of funding

The authors report no involvement in the research by the sponsor that could have influenced the outcome of this work.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The authors certify that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Declaration of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).