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Do they do as they are instructed? A review of out‐patient anaesthesia
Author(s) -
Malins A.F.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1978.tb08503.x
Subject(s) - medicine , queen (butterfly) , citation , library science , computer science , hymenoptera , botany , biology
Sixty patients who underwent out-patient anaesthesia were assessed by interview the day following surgery to determine the extent to which they remembered and complied with instructions given preoperatively concerning their post-anaesthetic activities such as, drinking, driving, cooking and operating machinery. The first group of thirty patients received verbal instructions only, except for a written instruction not to drive after anaesthesia. The following group of thirty patients received clear, concise printed instructions in addition to their pre-operative verbal instructions. There was a significant improvement between the two groups of patients in the ability to remember their instructions from a range of 77--99% failure rate to 4--12.5% depending on the sphere of activity. However, a certain proportion of patients deliberately ignored the instructions in both groups. It would appear from this study that verbal pre-operative instructions were easily forgotten unless re-inforced with written directives. Patients from ethnic minorities may need printed instructions in their native language and the services of an interpreter.