To investigate the effect of preoperative comfort nursing intervention in the operating room on the psychological state and stress response of elderly patients (aged≥60 years) with inguinal hernia.

A total of 64 patients with inguinal hernia tension-free repair under epidural anesthesia or general anesthesia were selected from November 2017 to August 2019 and randomly divided into observation group (n=32) and control group (n=32). The control group was given conventional operating room nursing before anesthesia, and the observation group was given comfort nursing on the basis of the control group. The anxiety self-assessment scale (SAS) score, fear visual analog score (FAVS) and changes in blood pressure and heart rate were compared between the two groups.

When entering the operating room, there was no significant difference in the SAS score, FAVS score, blood pressure, heart rate, physiological comfort and psychological comfort between the two groups (P>0.05); The SAS score and FAVS score of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). The heart rate and blood pressure before anesthesia of the observation group were significantly better than those in the control group (P<0.05); The comfort score of patients in the observation group before anesthesia was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.05).

Preoperative comfort nursing in the operating room can significantly improve patients’ negative emotions and stress responses, improve patient comfort during perioperative period, and benefit patients clinically.