Assessment of death anxiety among medical and surgery clinics patients of a teaching hospital

Abstract

Objective: To determine the level of death anxiety among inpatients in Medical and Surgery clinics. Methods: the cross-sectional study was conducted at the Medical and Surgery clinics of the University Hospital of Trabzon, Turkey, from June 15 to October 15, 2014. Data was gathered using a questionnaire and Death Anxiety Scale was applied. Results: There were 170 subjects in the study. Mean death anxiety score was 7.82 +/- 2.73 among Medical patients, while it was 8.09 +/- 2.73 for surgical patients. Those who stayed at Medical Clinic showed statistically significant differences between death anxiety and gender, patients' profession, the type of patient room, and patients' previous surgeries (p<0.05 each). Patients who stayed at Surgery Clinic showed statistically significant differences between death anxiety and age, marital status, having visitors, frequency of thoughts about death and sharing thoughts of death with others (p<0.05 each). Conclusion: Death anxiety was higher among patients who stayed at the Surgery Clinic than those at the Medical Clinic.