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

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. © 2016,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.