Kathy D Schlecht and Daniel Soliman
Oakland University, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Surgery Curr Res
Statement of the Problem: The objective of this study was to determine if an anesthesiologist pre-operative visit could measurably reduce the common fears of patients scheduled to receive general anesthesia for outpatient surgery. Setting: The following set up was carried out in preoperative surgical areas at William Beaumont Hospital at Troy, Michigan. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: The study was a prospective cohort survey that sampled patients scheduled to receive general anesthesia for outpatient elective surgery. Prior to their preoperative visit, patients were provided a five-question survey on demographics. Two identical surveys that asked patients to rate their level of anxiety on nineteen of the most common fears listed in the literature using a 5-item Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, strongly agree) were distributed before and after the pre-operative visit. An additional eleven question survey was administered after the pre-operative visit to assess patient perceptions of the anesthesiologist visit. Results: Fifty patients properly completed the pre-and post-visit surveys. A Paired T-Test was utilized to compare the average change in the Anxiety Score before and after speaking with the anesthesiologist. The overall results are displayed in figure 1. The Anxiety Score significantly decreased, on average, by 4.28 points after the patient speaks with the anesthesiologist (P-Value = 0.0002). Conclusion & Significance: A reduction in pre-operative patient anxiety can lead to a reduction in negative patient outcomes, including pain, nausea, vomiting, and length of recovery. This study demonstrates that an anesthesiologist pre-operative visit can measurably reduce patient anxiety and fears in the pre-operative setting, which may impact post-operative outcomes. Further statistical analysis is being completed to determine if the pre-operative visit is more effective at addressing specific patient fears above others.
Kathy D Schlecht is an Associate Professor at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. She completed her Anesthesia residency at the University of Michigan. Formerly the Past President of the Society for Education in Anesthesiology (SEA), she retains her faculty status for the SEA Workshop on Teaching. She currently serves on the American Society of Anesthesiologists Advisory Group on Physician Health and Wellness, Committee for Residents and Medical Students, and the Sub Committee on Abstract Review History and Education. She is also a Consultant to national and international anesthesiology departments to provide faculty development programs on anesthesia education and improve the quality of training provided by residency programs.
