Assessment of Patients' Satisfaction with Anesthesia Services and its Associated Factors at A Teaching Hospital in South India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aswini Lakshminarasimhan; Sathiyanarayanan Pilendran

doi:10.18502/aacc.v8i4.10174

Aswini Lakshminarasimhan Department of Anesthesiology, Esic Medical College and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (ESIC MC&PGIMSR), Chennai, Tamil Nadu. India.
Sathiyanarayanan Pilendran Department of Anesthesia, Government Thanjavur Medical College, Tamil Nadu, India.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/aacc.v8i4.10174

Keywords: Patient satisfaction; Perioperative care; Anesthesia

Abstract

Background: Patient satisfaction is one of the main quality indicators of anesthesia services. Various factors can determine patient satisfaction, such as anesthetist-patient interaction, perioperative anesthetic management, and postoperative follow-up. The aim of this study was to assess patient satisfaction with anesthesia services and its associated factors.

Methods: An Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2019 to October 2019 at a teaching hospital in South India. Patients who have undergone surgery by either general or regional anaesthesia were included. For postoperative interview, a structured questionnaire was administered. The satisfaction score was considered to be an outcome variable. Age, gender, ASA status, and type of anesthesia were considered to be explanatory variables.

Results: A total of 462 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the study population was 41.84 (±13.48 SD) years. Males were found to have statistically higher mean satisfaction scores as compared to females. The mean satisfaction score among the patients with combined anesthesia (general anesthesia in addition to regional anesthesia) was significantly higher as compared to patients with GA, CNB, and PNB (p<0.05). There was a significant difference in the degree of satisfaction with induction, intraoperative pain relief, and pain relief in the postoperative period among patients with different types of anesthesia (p<0.05). 39.2% of patients were dissatisfied with the self-introduction of anesthetists, and 17.7% were dissatisfied with anesthetist revisit in postoperative period.

Conclusion: Poor self-introduction of anesthetists, absence of postoperative revisit by the anesthetist, and lack of proper planning for postoperative pain relief contributed a major part to the dissatisfaction.