Anesthesia-Personnel’s Knowledge of Complications from Regional Anesthesia : Survey at Srinagarind Hospital

Abstract

Background:  Regional anesthesia is the common anesthetic procedure for patients undergoing  lower abdomen and lower extremity surgery.  Anesthesia-personnel should be aware of the common complications for patient safety.

Objective:  To survey anesthesia-personnel’s knowledge of complications from regional anesthesia.

Design:  Descriptive study

Setting: Srinagarind Hospital, Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine.

Population:  51 anesthesia-personnel : 39 nurse- anesthetists and 12 residents.

Methods:  Anesthesia-personnel answered the questionnaire (13 items, created by the research team) during a one-hour classroom period. The answer sheets were analyzed for difficulty index (“p”), and the discrimination index (“r”).  The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:  Fifty anesthesia-personnel answered the questionnaire: 39 nurse - anesthetists (78.00%) and 11 residents (22.00%). Respondents averaged 36.18 ± 7.23 years of age and 7.70 ± 6.26 years of experience in anesthesia.  We found that the anesthesia-personnel had averaged 80.31%(or had a good level of knowledge).  Age and years of experience did not correlate with the level of knowledge.  Residents scored significantly higher than nurse-anesthetists (88.08 vs. 78.08%, respectively)(p=0.01).

Conclusion:  The knowledge of complications from regional anesthesia was of a good level among anesthesia-personnel  practising at  Srinagarind Hospital.