Abstract
BackgroundPatient satisfaction is a well-established indicator to evaluate the quality of medical care and there is an increasing support for the use of patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) to evaluate satisfaction. To anesthetize the upper limb for surgery, both general and regional plexus anaesthesia are appropriate techniques. However, the best technique in the anaesthesiologist’s perspective might not necessarily result in the highest patient satisfaction. The aim of this study is to investigate patient satisfaction following general and regional anaesthesia, and to identify areas where anaesthesiologists can focus on improving patient care.MethodsPatients scheduled for elective distal upper extremity surgery under either general or regional plexus anaesthesia were prospectively included. On the first postoperative day, patient satisfaction and main reason for dissatisfaction with the anaesthesia technique were investigated during a telephone interview.ResultsOf the 243 patients included in the current study, 79.8% report being “fully satisfied” with their anaesthesia technique. 32.1% of the patients who received regional anaesthesia reported not feeling “fully satisfied”. This figure is 5.5% following general anaesthesia. Main reason for dissatisfaction following regional anaesthesia are reported as “insufficient anaesthesia prior to surgery”, and “the discomfort of having a long-lasting insensate extremity postoperatively”.ConclusionsFollowing regional plexus anaesthesia, a third of the patients are not “fully satisfied”. To optimize patient satisfaction following regional anaesthesia techniques, we advocate stronger focus on patient counselling preoperatively, addressing the issues of block failure and prolonged postoperative sensory and motor block.
Highlights
Patient satisfaction is a well-established indicator to evaluate the quality of medical care and there is an increasing support for the use of patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) to evaluate satisfaction
Patient satisfaction is a well-established indicator to evaluate the quality of medical care and it is an important tool for prompting improvements in clinical care [1,2,3]
For this analysis on patient satisfaction following general and regional plexus anaesthesia, we only included those patients scheduled for elective upper extremity surgery under these two anaesthesia techniques
Summary
Patient satisfaction is a well-established indicator to evaluate the quality of medical care and there is an increasing support for the use of patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) to evaluate satisfaction. The aim of this study is to investigate patient satisfaction following general and regional anaesthesia, and to identify areas where anaesthesiologists can focus on improving patient care. For distal upper extremity surgery a variety of anaesthetic techniques are available to anesthetize the upper limb; general anaesthesia and regional (plexus) blocks are commonly applied techniques. Both techniques have their advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of technique largely depends on the planned surgery and patient’s overall health status and preferences. The best technique in anaesthesiologist’s perspective, might not necessarily result in the highest patient satisfaction. The secondary aim of this study is to identify areas for clinical practice improvement
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