Abstract
Introduction: Anaesthesia as a specialty is reaching its zenith with multiple sub-specialties, but anaesthesiologist remains obscure personnel behind the drapes due to lack of public perception and knowledge pertaining to their role. The aim is to the study was conducted to assess the perception and knowledge of general public about the role of anaesthesia and the anaesthesiologist. Subjects and Methods : A prospective, cross-sectional study, conducted in a 500-bedded, rural medical college over a 3-month period. A total of 172 attendees accompanying their patients for surgical procedures were enrolled and assessed based on preformed, pretested questionnaire in the pre-anaesthetic clinic. The questionnaire contained 30 questions to determine their knowledge and attitude towards anaesthesia and anaesthesia provider. Results: Out of total 172 participants, 43.02% % recognized anaesthesiologist as specially trained doctors. Eighty two (47.67%) of the attendees knew that anesthesia is administered by an anesthesiologist but 71.5% were not aware of their role in providing peri-operative care. The attendees apprised of anesthesiologists role in labour analgesia, chronic pain management, intensive care units and emergency resuscitation was Sixty seven (39%), forty nine (28.49%), forty five (26.7%) and twenty six (15.1%) out of 172 respectively. Majority of the attendees (93.6%) were receptive to know more about anaesthesia. Conclusion: The awareness regarding role of anaesthesiologist in general public is still low and the perception of people about anaesthesia as an evolved specialty is lacking. This calls for corrective measures to be taken by the anaesthesiology fraternity for propagation of anesthesiology skills via social media and other government aided platforms.
Highlights
IntroductionAnesthesia has emerged as one of the major specialty in modern day medicine and witnessed tremendous development over the last few decades
Anaesthesia as a specialty is reaching its zenith with multiple sub-specialties, but anaesthesiologist remains obscure personnel behind the drapes due to lack of public perception and knowledge pertaining to their role
Despite multitude of studies on patients and public perception of anesthesiology, there has been no significant progress in the efforts to highlight this specialty to the general public. [3–8] October 16th is being celebrated every year as Anesthesia Day worldwide and public awareness programmes are organized in the developed as well as developing countries to spread the awareness about the specialty
Summary
Anesthesia has emerged as one of the major specialty in modern day medicine and witnessed tremendous development over the last few decades. The scope of Anesthesiology at present is not limited to providing peri-operative patient care and acute pain services, but encompasses a spectrum encompassing critical care medicine, emergency services including resuscitation, chronic pain management, and palliative care. The specialty-public bridges that include patient awareness, trust and confidence are not developed in anaesthesia. [1] the foundation stone of knowledge about anesthesia and work of anesthesiologist in providing peri-operative care is still lacking. Despite multitude of studies on patients and public perception of anesthesiology, there has been no significant progress in the efforts to highlight this specialty to the general public. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and perception of the attendees from rural Haryana about anesthesia and the role of anesthesiologists and to impart knowledge to the accompanying attendees about anesthesia
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