A comparison of face-to-face, brochure- and video-assisted anesthesia interviews: a qualitative randomized survey study

Abstract

Background: Previous studies showed mixed results for patient satisfaction by supplementing the preanesthetic assessment with written or audio-visual materials. We hypothesize that an audio-visual aid or a brochure in addition to face-to-face interview, leads to improved patient satisfaction and shortens the preanesthetic assessment duration.

Methods: We randomly assigned 1051 patients scheduled for preanesthetic assessment to three different groups: face-to-face preanesthetic interview alone (Group 1), videos before the interview (Group 2), and brochure before the interview (Group 3). All patients were asked to complete a postinterview questionnaire assessing patient satisfaction, knowledge gain, prior experience with anesthesia, and quality of supplementary media.

Results: The use of additional materials immediately before the preanesthetic interview did increase the overall patient satisfaction (F<inf>(2, 1003)</inf> = 3.10, P<0.05, ƞ²=0.006) but not the interview satisfaction (F<inf>(2, 1011)</inf> = 0.756, P>0.05) nor information gain (procedure explanations F<inf>(2, 987)</inf> = 0.400, P>0.05) or quality of answered questions (F<inf>(2, 1029)</inf> = 0.769, P>0.05). A statistically significant effect on interview satisfaction (F<inf>(13,996)</inf> = 5.15, P<0.01., ƞ²=0.063), overall satisfaction (F<inf>(13,988)</inf> = 4.25, P<0.01., ƞ²=0.053) and given explanations (F<inf>(13, 972)</inf> = 3.132, P<0.001, ƞ²=0.04) was associated with the explanation of different anesthetic techniques by the provider. No differences of response quality between the anesthesiologists was found (F<inf>(13, 1014)</inf> = 1.494, P>0.05).

Conclusions: Additional information imparted in the form of an educational brochure or videos immediately before the preanesthetic assessment and interview does not lead to higher patient satisfaction.