Mj. Courtney, THE EFFECT OF A PREANESTHETIC INFORMATION BOOKLET ON PATIENT UNDERSTANDING AND SATISFACTION, New Zealand medical journal, 110(1045), 1997, pp. 212-214
Aim. To determine if a brief user friendly anaesthetic booklet complim
ents the anaesthetic service currently provided, in terms of greater p
atient understanding and satisfaction. Method. Two questionnaires were
completed by participants in each group, one questionnaire preoperati
vely and the other postoperatively. The booklet group received the ana
esthetic booklet in the mail with their booking card while the control
group only received their booking card. Results. Of the 209 eligible,
140 patients consented to and completed the preoperative questionnair
e, of whom 53 were in the anaesthetic booklet group and 87 were in the
control group. The postoperative questionnaire was completed by 38 an
d 65 respectively. The anaesthetic booklet group had better understand
ing of what a premed will do (p < 0.05) and how long after an anaesthe
tic to wait before driving (p < 0.025). The percentage of correct answ
ers for the more general anaesthetic questions was high and very simil
ar in both groups. There was no significant difference in the satisfac
tion scores between groups. Satisfaction scores for bath groups rose s
ignificantly in the postoperative questionnaire when compared with the
preoperative questionnaire (p < 0.001). Conclusion. The value of the
anaesthetic booklet is in providing detailed anaesthetic information t
o the patient. This will aid the preanaesthetic consultation with the
anaesthetist and provide a focus for further discussion about the inte
nded anaesthetic. Patient satisfaction with the anaesthetic service wa
s high in both groups pre- and postoperatively and was not altered by
the anaesthetic booklet.