Effect of Liaison Nurse Service on Transfer Anxiety of Patients Transferred From the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit to the GeneralWard

Background: Transition from intensive care unit to a general ward is a stressful situation for patients. It is believed that a liaison nurse can prevent adverse events during the transfer process. Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effect of a liaison nurse on anxiety related to the transportation of patients from the cardiac surgery intensive care unit to a general ward. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was conductedon68 patients that were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The demographic information and disease profile were collected at the baseline of the study. Liaison nurse services were provided for the experimental group during the transfer process. The Spielberger state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI) was used to measure the patients’ anxiety at the start of the transfer and two hours after admission to the general ward. Independent samples and paired t-tests were used to compare the anxiety mean scores in the experimental and control groups. Results: Before the intervention, the mean anxiety was 45.6112.42 and 40.1110.95 in the experimental and the control groups, respectively (P = 0.057). However, after the intervention, the mean anxiety score was significantly decreased to 33.20 6.22 in the experimental group (P < 0.001) while it increased to 44.1710.23 in the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Liaison nurse services affected the patients’ anxiety in the process of transition from the cardiac surgery intensive care unit to the general ward.