Patient Satisfaction with Anaesthesia Care at a Tertiary Hospital: Elective vs. Emergency Cases – A Cross-Sectional Study

Sediba Virginia Tjale; Dorinka Nel

doi:10.51168/4x0k6e75

Autori

Sediba Virginia Tjale Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand
Dorinka Nel Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51168/4x0k6e75

Cuvinte cheie:

anaesthesia, elective, emergency, Patient satisfaction, perioperative care

Rezumat

Background
Patient satisfaction is a crucial measure of perioperative care quality, reflecting clinical outcomes and experiences, particularly in resource-constrained public hospitals. This study examined satisfaction levels among patients undergoing elective and emergency surgery at a South African tertiary hospital, addressing a gap in comparative data.

Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study of 124 elective and 124 emergency surgical patients. We evaluated satisfaction with anaesthesia care 12–24 hours postoperatively using the Leiden Perioperative Patient Satisfaction questionnaire in English and isiZulu. Statistical analyses included one-sample t-tests and Mann-Whitney U tests to compare satisfaction levels.

Results
We included 248 patients: 124 elective and 124 emergency surgical patients. The mean age was 44.8 years (SD 15.3); 63.7% were male, and 87.5% were Black African. Overall satisfaction with information was high, with all information items scoring above 4 on a 5-point scale. Elective patients reported higher satisfaction with information than emergency patients (mean composite score 4.50 [SD 0.50] vs 4.03 [SD 0.82]. Most participants reported little or no postoperative pain (70.2%), sore throat (87.5%), back pain (91.9%), or vomiting (96.0%). Emergency patients reported significantly greater cold (p=0.009), hunger (p=0.049), and thirst (p=0.005) and had higher discomfort-and-needs scores than elective patients (mean rank 135.58 vs 113.42; p=0.015). Satisfaction with general and personal care was high in both groups; however, elective patients reported higher satisfaction with general care (mean 4.41 [SD 0.48] vs 4.27 [SD 0.38]; p=0.02) and personal care (mean 3.94 [SD 0.67] vs 3.69 [SD 0.71]; p=0.021) than emergency patients.

Conclusion
The study found high patient satisfaction with anaesthesia care and highlighted the need to improve communication and attention to basic comfort needs for emergency patients.

Recommendation

Structured perioperative communication and protocols to address warmth, hydration, and nutritional needs should be implemented, particularly for emergency surgical patients, to reduce discomfort and improve patient-centred anaesthesia.

Biografii autori

Sediba Virginia Tjale, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

BSc, BHSc (Hons), MBBCh, DipPEC (SA), DA (SA) is an anaesthesia registrar at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa. She completed her undergraduate qualifications at the University of the Witwatersrand and is currently undertaking specialist training. Her interests include regional anaesthesia, cardiac anaesthesia and critical care. She is involved with teaching and training of junior doctors and medical students rotating in anaesthesia in the Witwatersrand circuit
Dorinka Nel, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

has an MBChB from the University of Pretoria, as well as a Diploma and Fellowship in Anaesthesiology from the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. She is currently a senior consultant at the Department of Anaesthesia at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and affiliated with the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is an examiner for the College of Anaesthesia and has been an external examiner for the MMed(Anaes). She regularly supervises postgraduate students on their research projects for Master degrees in anaesthesia. She is an anaesthetic assessor for the National Committee on the Confidential Enquiry of Maternal Deaths (NCCEMD). Her interests include obstetric anaesthesia, patient safety, patient outcomes, and critical incident analysis.

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