Patients who receive a structured briefing before surgery experience far less anxiety than those who go through the standard hospital routine, according to a new randomised controlled trial from Indonesia. The findings offer a simple, low-cost solution to a problem that affects millions of people awaiting an operation each year. The study was published in the Jurnal Ilmiah Kesehatan Sandi Husada.

Preoperative anxiety is common and can have real physical consequences. Studies have linked heightened stress before surgery to increased pain, higher anaesthetic requirements and slower recovery, making it far more than just an emotional hurdle for patients to overcome.

The trial, conducted across two tertiary hospitals in Jakarta between January and April 2026, involved 140 adult patients scheduled for elective procedures. Half received a structured education package combining visual and verbal explanations about what to expect, while the other half received standard hospital care.

Anxiety was measured using the widely validated State Trait Anxiety Inventory, once at baseline and again shortly before surgery. Patients who received the structured education had noticeably lower anxiety scores than those in the control group, with an average difference of nearly eight points on the scale.

Even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, education level and previous surgical experience, the education programme remained a strong and independent predictor of reduced anxiety. Interestingly, older patients tended to report slightly lower anxiety overall, which researchers suggest may reflect greater familiarity with medical procedures or more developed coping strategies over time.

The researchers behind the study argue that the results carry practical weight for hospitals operating with limited time and resources. Preoperative preparation in many settings still focuses mainly on logistics and consent forms, leaving patients without a clear picture of what the surgical process will actually involve.

By contrast, structured education that walks patients through the experience in accessible language appears to ease uncertainty in a way that routine care does not. The authors note that their approach was designed with local language and cultural context in mind, which may help explain why the effect held up so consistently across the sample.

The study’s authors are calling for larger, multicentre trials to test whether these findings hold across different hospital systems and patient populations. They also suggest that digital tools, including videos and mobile apps, could make this kind of education easier to scale in busy surgical wards.

For now, the research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that a relatively small investment in patient communication before surgery could meaningfully improve how people experience one of the most stressful moments in their healthcare journey.