Anaesthesiologists H attitude towards preoperative patients education needs in 2005

Background and lack of information about anaesthisia and fear of post operation contiousness, pain, nausea and vomiting increases the patientsH anxiety. There are various reports about patiensH desire for preoperation information in Iran and other countries. However, there is no study related to anaesthesiologistsH view about patientsH needs before anaesthesia and operation in the literature. This descriptive (cross- sectional) study was done in 2005 on 110 anaesthesiologists working in hospitals of Mazandaran province. Questionnaire containing 4 questions about demographic and 18 questions related to anaesthesia was prepared. Attitude of the anaesthesiologists was divided into 5 categories based on Likert rating scale as follows: completely agreed, agreed, partially agreed, not agreed, completely not agreed. Chi-square test was used for the statistical analysis of the data. Results of this study showed that the most positive attitude of anaesthesiologists about patient teaching was related to the proper explanation about duration of N.P.O before operation (%97.3). %52.7 of anaes the siologists were against giving explanation of the duration of N.P.O and post operation possible problems. In this regard no significant difference was observed between educational and non educational hospitals (P<0.018). No significant difference in terms of attitude was observed between anaesthesiologists at different level of education (P<0.07). Considering the positive attitude of the anaesthesiologists towards education and preoperation of the patients, it is recommended that such education be implemented and the patients be charged for preoperation consultation in order to give explanation about anaesthesia at proper time, when needed.