For adult surgical oncology patients at White Plains Hospital Center for Cancer Care, does the implementation of aromatherapy in the preoperative setting, compared to current practice, impact anxiety in 8-10 weeks?
Literature Search Strategy
Many articles were identified to highlight the impact aromatherapy has on preoperative anxiety. It is imperative to identify strong, supportive, high-quality literature to support the practice problem and intended intervention. By doing so, the hope is to produce positive patient outcomes in our surgical oncology population. Keywords were used to search the most recent, peer-reviewed articles for the most relevant material regarding anxiety in the surgical oncology patient. The keywords used were preoperative anxiety, aromatherapy, surgical oncology, AND adults. In addition, the Chamberlain library search engine was the sole source of research. Databases utilized included CINHAL, Medline, and PubMed. Approximately 20 peer-reviewed articles were identified and strongly support the evidence-based intervention of utilizing lavender aromatherapy in the preoperative setting for the management of anxiety. All articles vary in evidence type and will be used to show the importance of this proposed intervention.
Literature to Synthesis
Lavender aromatherapy is one of the most widely used, well-recognized, complementary, and alternative medicine (CAM) that promotes relaxation and calmness (Beyliklioglu & Arslan, 2019; Koehler, 2021; Shady et al., 2019; Wotman et al., 2017). In recent times, aromatherapy has been successfully utilized in combination with modern day medicine to cure, manage, and treat a litany of aliments. Being able to safely manage symptoms, with a non-pharmacological approach is ideal, especially in the preoperative setting.
Bedaso and Ayalew (2019) conducted a study that revealed a 47.0% prevalence of preoperative anxiety among individuals undergoing elective surgeries. Given the commonality of this overwhelming feeling, the need to establish a safe, cost-effective, non-pharmacologic management approach is monumental. Studies have found that aromatherapy, more specifically lavender aromatherapy, when implemented, significantly decreases preoperative anxiety (Abdelhakim, et al., 2019; Franco, et al., 2016; Guo et al., 2020; Koehler, 2021; Trambert et al., 2017; Wotman, et al., 2017). By decreasing preoperative anxiety, the overall health status of the surgical patient is inadvertently optimized, and will therefore, produce positive patient outcomes.
Update
My DNP project has qualified for expedited review; therefore, it takes about 10-14 days for them to review the material and approve the project once fully submitted. Currently, there are a few little things to fix (mostly the wrong boxes clicked in the application) and then I can resubmit for approval. I am finally happy it is moving in the right direction and I now have a contact person who reviews the information in the iRIS database prior to submission.
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