Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Anesthesiologists are working not only in operating room anymore but also in intensive care units and pain clinics. Unfortunately, many people don’t know the anesthesiology as a specialized department of medicine and even the anesthesiologist as a doctor. We aim to evaluate our patients’ knowledge about anesthesia practice and role of anesthesiologists and also the effectiveness of preoperative anesthesiology consultation in improving awareness of anesthesia with this survey.

METHODS

A total of 300 literate patients, ages between 18 and 70, who were undergoing elective surgery and referred to anesthesiology clinic were included for the study. Written approval was taken. Patients were asked to complete a survey of 22 questions before and after the anesthesiology consultation. The survey has three parts including questions about demografic data and role of anesthesiologists. Results was analysed by using Pearson’s chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test.

RESULTS

Number of correct answers to the questions about anesthesia and anesthesiologists were increased after consultation with anesthesiologist. Anesthesiologists were recognized as a spesialized doctor up to 88 % after preoperative anesthesiology consultation. Increasing percentage of correct answering was found to have a linear relationship with high education level. These findings were found statistically significant (p<0.05).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

It is proved that preoperative consultation has an impact on improving awareness of anesthesia. As a result face to face consultation with the anesthesiologist is very important.