[Awaiting elective gynecological surgery--opinions of patients].

PURPOSE: To establish if and to what extend women find the time of waiting for an elective gynecological operation difficult, how it is manifested and what the conditioning factors are. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The investigation was carried out in the group of 272 women who during two months of 2008 were admitted to one of the four selected hospitals for an elective gynecological operation. A questionnaire has been designed solely for the purpose of the pilot study 25 women participated in the study. RESULTS: The respondents reported 717 concerns that occurred within the period of waiting for the surgery; the most frequent among them were fear of being diagnosed with cancer (27.6%), postoperative pain (26.7%) postoperative complications (19.1%). More than half of the respondents (58.5%) waited for the surgery for 2-3 months or longer. Every fifth woman complained about problems with being admitted to hospital and every fourth woman expected emotional support from medical staff. 91.2% respondents had searched for additional information about their disease. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Waiting for elective gynecological operation may create a difficult situation for many women what was confirmed by a vast number and nature of their concerns, frequent expectations of emotional support and search for additional information about their disease. 2. Problems with being admitted to a health care institution and long period of waiting for the operation (> 1 month) are quite common and these factors may contribute to further worsening of the quality of patients' life during the preoperative period. 3. Demographic parameters assumed for the purpose of this analysis do not differentiate the parameters tested, with the exception of the place of inhabitance factor that turned out to be associated with the expectations of emotional support. 4. The degree of hospital reference significantly differentiates tested parameters.