Satisfaction and anxiety in an initiative with local anesthesia

Aim: To determine the levels of satisfaction and anxiety of patients in surgery under local anesthesia. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed at the Ege University Faculty of Dentistry between December 2011 and January 2012. The study sample consisted of 350 patients. A sociodemographic information form and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used in obtaining the data. Figure-percentage distributions, mean, Student’s t-test, one-way ANOVA, and correlation analysis within SPSS 15.0 for Windows were used in data analysis. Results: The mean patient age was 31.58 ± 14.58 years, consisting of 64.9% females, 36.6% high school graduates, and 72.9% who were satisfied with their therapy. Conditional anxiety score of the patients was 39.03 ± 6.16, and constant anxiety score was 44.12 ± 6.38. The conditional anxiety score was greater in males compared to females (P 0.05). Conditional anxiety was greater among patients with both lower and higher levels of education (P 0.05). Conclusion: Physicians and nurses within a health team should define factors that cause anxiety and be aware that levels of anxiety are important in terms of anxiety control.