Awareness about Anesthesia amid General Populace

Alturaifi, Lulwah Abdulaziz; Alhatlan, Abdulelah Ibraheem; Al-Ghamdi, Mohammed Yaanallah M; Almejally, Haitham Abdullah; Alshawaf, Mustafa Hussain H; Aljaziri, Hussien Ali S; Alamer, Ali Adel M; Alqahtani, Ghassan Ali J; Alotaibi, Afnan Khalid; Almaihan, Abdullah Hejji A; Sharton, Yasmin Mohamed O; Alhazmi, Abrar Mansour A

doi:10.12816/0042580

Awareness about Anesthesia amid General Populace

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ King Khaleed Hospital in Hail

² King Faisal University

³ Albaha University

⁴ King Faisal Hospital,Makkah

⁵ Aseer Central Hospital

⁶ King Abdulaziz University

⁷ King Abdulaziz University Hospital

10.12816/0042580

Abstract

Background: The public consciousness towards anesthesiologist and anesthesia is limited even in urban population. Our cross-sectional analysis highlights this lack of public awareness and discusses possible remedies to overcome these limitations.
Materials and Methods: Surgical outpatient department was screened for 6 months period in King Abdulaziz Hospital. A questionnaire divided into three parts (awareness about anesthesiologist, consent, present surgical experience) was filled out for each patient. The patients on the basis of their answers were classified as aware or unaware, furthermore, source of patient data was analyzed.
Results: Even with an exceptionally low threshold, only 44.86% of population could be categorized as aware, and commonest source of their information was not anesthesiologist but surgeon (56%). 89.7% patients were not aware of contents of pre-operative consent they had signed and further, only 21.4% were aware of anesthesia-related issues. Pain was reported as the most mutual pre-operative fear and post-operative patient concern. 40.2% patients due to lack of pre-operative counseling were not able to recognize the type of anesthesia and thought they had received both general anesthesia and spinal anesthesia. Finally, after explaining the role of anesthesia for surgery, 98.1% patients presented desire to meet the anesthesiologist before if they were to be operated in future.
Conclusion: The awareness about anesthesia is particularly low likely due to low knowledge rates and lack of pre-operative counseling by anesthesiologist. Both patient and anesthesiologist should understand the significance of consent, as it is not only a legal binding but can eliminate pre-operative factitious fears of patients and can improve patient satisfaction towards surgery.

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