Understanding the Role of the Anesthesiologist
Condition: Preoperative Anxiety
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      When presenting for elective surgery, patient's often do not completely understand the role
      that the anesthesiology team plays in their care. In 1999, the American Medical Association
      (AMA) found that health literacy was a stronger predictor of a person's health than age,
      income, education level and race. It is very important that the investigators provide
      information to patients on the role of anesthesiologists in their care before, during, and
      after the surgery as it has been shown to improve patient anxiety and overall satisfaction.
    

Detailed description: 
      Background: When presenting for elective surgery, patient's often do not completely
      understand the role that the anesthesiology team plays in their care. There have been studies
      done in foreign countries to understand this subject, however, there is a paucity of data in
      American patients. In 1999, the American Medical Association (AMA) found that health literacy
      was a stronger predictor of a person's health than age, income, education level and race. It
      is very important that we provide information to patients on the role of anesthesiologists in
      their care before, during, and after the surgery as it has been shown to improve patient
      anxiety and overall satisfaction. The investigators approached 100 patients coming to a
      pre-admission testing area and asked them to complete an anonymous questionnaire is to
      understand the extent of patients' knowledge about our roles and to assess where-primary care
      physician, surgeon, or pre-admission testing clinic-they are being provided this information.
      Based on the results obtained from this survey we made a targeted effort to improve patient
      understanding of the role of anesthesiologists. Our goal with this teaching tool is to
      understand the extent of patients' knowledge about our roles and to assess the efficacy of
      our pre-admission testing clinic. Based on the results obtained from our prior study we have
      designed a self administered tutorial on an electronic tablet that will be provided to
      willing patients during their pre-admission testing clinic visit.

      These patients will then be given a short questionnaire on the day of surgery to assess their
      knowledge and understanding of the care provided to them by the anesthesia team.

      Materials and methods: Patients visiting Pre Admission Testing (PAT) in anticipation of
      surgery will be asked if they wish to volunteer for this study. If so they will be asked to
      review the 10 question multiple choice tutorial on an electronic tablet. If the patient's
      response is incorrect the tablet provides the correct response with an explanation. At the
      PAT visit the patient's name and proposed date of surgery will be obtained. On the day of
      surgery, these patients will then be given a short questionnaire to assess their knowledge
      and understanding of the information provided by the tablet exercise. Patients will also be
      asked to provide demographic information age, gender, race, and highest level of education.
      Our goal is to obtain 100 anonymous paper surveys. We will compare the survey results of
      those patients who did not have an opportunity to view the tutorial with those that did to
      learn whether the tutorial is an effective teaching tool.

      Results: All data analysis will be performed using SPSS software (version 16, Chicago,
      Illinois). Summary statistics, including frequencies and means, will be calculated to
      describe the sample and to assess the patient population understanding of the role of the
      anesthesiologists in their care.

      Discussion: Based on the results of the first phase of this study, the majority of patients
      are not fully informed of the role of anesthesiologists. Therefore we have created a self
      administered tutorial on an electronic tablet which will be administered during their
      pre-admission testing clinic visit to enhance their understanding of the roles of their
      anesthesiologist during their surgery.
    

Intervention name(s): educational material
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): pts coming to preadmission testing will view self administered tutorial on the role of anesthesiologist
Observational model: Case-Only
Time perspective: Prospective
Sampling method: Non-Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Patients coming to the Pre Admission Testing (PAT) at an urban hospital in anticipation of
        surgery