Anesthesiologists' familiarity with the ASA and ACS guidelines on Advance Directives in the perioperative setting

Abstract

Study objective: To assess anesthesiologists' familiarity with the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and American College of Surgeons (ACS) guidelines on Advance Directives in the perioperative setting.

Design: Single-center, 4-question anonymous survey.

Setting: Urban academic medical center.

Subjects: Up to 34 subjects responded to each question.

Measurements and main results: Familiarity with the ASA and ACS guidelines on Advance Directives in the perioperative setting ranged from 45% to 100%.

Conclusions: There was inadequate familiarity with components of the ASA and ACS guidelines on advance directives in the perioperative setting. Larger studies are required to assess anesthesiologists' familiarity with national society guidelines that directly affect patient care. Future work should investigate best practices for guideline implementation, and consequences of poor adherence to national guidelines.

Keywords: Advance directives; Anesthesiologists; Compliance; End-of-life care; Guidelines; Operating room.