Knowledge About Anaesthesiology and Anaesthesiologists

INTRODUCTION:

Anaesthesiology is still an emerging specialty in comparison to medicine and the field of surgery. Unawareness, infrequent exposure, and limited direct patient interaction have resulted in into least knowledge regarding the field of anaesthesiology among patients get admission to the hospital. The role, status of the anaesthesiologist and the awareness about the specialty of anaesthesiology has always been an active issue in the general population of most of the countries. Ongoing advancement in the field of anaesthesiology has facilitated complex surgical procedures, but it has never been acknowledged anywhere in media. Several studies done on the same subject is a reflection of efforts of professional bodies around the world towards improvement in the spread of awareness about the field of anaesthesiology and role of anaesthesiologist but these are still largely inaccurate.

A survey done even in developed countries outside the operating rooms depicted that the patients have limited awareness about the role of anaesthesiologists. A survey was done in India in 2018 showed that there was widespread ignorance about the anaesthesiology and role of anaesthesiologist in patients attending rural healthcare facilities. A 2009 survey in government busy setting of India showed that only 56% of patients knew that anaesthesiologist is a doctor. A survey done in the year 2004 revealed a high number of around 80% of patients visiting hospital recognized anaesthesiologist as a doctor but were unaware of their responsibilities in the hospital.

In the era of the rise in media and the Internet, an enhancement can be seen in awareness about anaesthesiology. Awareness about anaesthesiology and anaesthesiologists is an important better relationship between patient and doctor.

Methodology:

A cross-sectional study was conducted at the National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 1st December 2017 to 30th March 2018. The sample size was calculated using the WHO Sample Size Calculator. In a previous study, knowledge regarding anaesthesiologists and anaesthesiology was about 51.52% therefore 384 patients will be included in this study to estimate knowledge within 5 percent point (margin of error) of the true value (51.52%) with 95% confidence interval. Using Non-probability purposive sampling patients falling in inclusion criteria were included after taking ethical committee approval and patient's consent. Patients of either gender aged 18 to 60 years were included regardless of the specialty of surgery. We excluded those patients who refused to give consent and those were unable to give consent because of being language bearer, mentally not bill to understand questionnaires and doctors who were admitted as patients. Knowledge about anaesthesiologists and the field of anaesthesiology was measured by asking the questionnaire comprising 12 questions. Patients were interviewed by the preoperative anaesthetist and principal investigator on the ward. Each interview lasted for 10-20min and was based on a questionnaire in English and Arabic language. The questionnaire consisted of questions modified from previous studies and added questions. It had two parts; demographics i.e. age, gender, educational level, occupation, previous anaesthesia experience and type of surgery, the second part will consist of 12 questions about anaesthesiology and anaesthesiologist. Patients giving the correct responses to 8 out of 12 questions were considered to have knowledge. Data were analyzed using statistical packages for social science version 19 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Frequency and percentage were computed for gender, type of surgery, education level, previous surgery, Patient's knowledge about anaesthesiology and anaesthesiologist. Mean and the standard deviation was estimated for age. Stratification was done to control effect modifiers like gender, age, education level, previous surgery to observed the Patient's knowledge about anaesthesiology and anaesthesiologist through the chi-square test. p≤0.05 is considered as significant.