Assessment of pre-operative fasting and its subsequent implications in elderly patients undergoing surgery

Long-term fasting before surgery can lead to serious post-operative complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate pre-operative fasting in elderly people and its subsequent implications. This is a cross-sectional study that was carried out from March 2009 to March 2009 in the educational hospitals of Iran University. 151 elderly, who were candidate for surgery, participated in this study. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made checklist which its validity was obtained through content validity and its reliability was obtained through calculation of the correlation of the evaluators’ assessment scores. Data were analyzed using spss21 software. The findings showed that, 69 (45.7%) of participants were men and 82 (54.3%) were women, 51% had cardiovascular disease. The mean overall duration of fasting was 11.7 ± 2.79. Only 30 of them experienced a 6-8 hours fasting period, while 19 patients experienced 10-8 hours, 46 patients were NPO (Nothing by mouth )for 10-12 hours, and 56 were more than 12 hours NPO before surgery. Based on the results of this study, it seems that preoperative care in elderly people, especially about duration of NPO time and attention to assessment of vital sign and Comorbidities, is not sufficiently precise. Therefore, it is recommended that caregivers receive adequate education about preoperative care