As they're wheeled into the operating room, some patients may be seeingtranquil shores instead of scrubs and scalpels. That's if they're engaging in guided imagery, a technique that one study has shown makes surgery easier, if not quite a walk on the beach.
The study, published in the Association of Operating Room Nurses Journal, assigned 130 abdominal-surgery patients to one of two groups. Both groups received routine preoperative care, but only one listened to guided imagery tapes (produced by Health Journeys) for three days before and six days after surgery.
With a background of soothing music, the tapes instructed patients to fantasize that they were in calm, beautiful surroundings with someone they loved beside them. They were encouraged to confront fears they might have about the surgery, and to imagine themselves in the operating room itself, undergoing the procedure with little pain or upset. "It's like a directed, deliberate daydream," says lead researcher Diane Tusek, R.N., of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
