The purpose of the interview was to help them reconstruct their experiences and feelings about their particular experience. The interview results showed that the most frequently expressed experience for all twelve outpatients was anxiety. This anxiety begins when the patient's own physician reveals that the patient needs an outpatient procedure, and accumulates until the patient has completed the procedure and receives the results. At each stress point, patients told us of their anxieties at that stage. Conclusion The dominant experience of the outpatients studied was anxiety.
Anxiety is a problem for patients because it is an unpleasant sensation.
For these reasons, it is important to identify and attempt to reduce the anxiety of outpatients. We recommend that each outpatient service conduct its own patient anxiety audit. There are three steps in the audit. Conduct qualitative research among former outpatients. Each setting has its own unique dynamics.