Fears and perceptions associated with regional anesthesia in a tertiary institution in North Central Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Regional anaesthesia is conducted for many surgical procedures. This study was undertaken prospectively to access patients fears, perception and satisfaction of regional anaesthesia(RA) in the perioperative period. It was a prospective cross-sectional survey of 94 patients with American society of anesthesiologist (ASA) physical status class I and II between the ages 18 and 80 years scheduled for surgery under regional anaesthesia. After patients consented to the regional anaesthetic technique, the patients were asked to fill a structured questionnaire composed of the patients' demographic data and questions relating to fears about regional anaesthesia. Post-operatively patients were assessed if they were satisfied. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences [SPSS software version-23]. Ninety-four patients were studied and their responses analysed. The mean age was 39±16.2 and 78.7% were females. The most common fear observed was the fear of loss of control during surgery (58.2%). While patients had the least fear of postoperative nausea and vomiting(25.5%). Thirteen(13.8%) of patients were dissatisfied with the regional anaesthesia. The most common reason was due to paresthesia (5.3%). Males had more fear of back injury from RA(50%), p=0.026. There was a positive correlation between patients satisfaction and future choice of RA rs=0.320, p=0.002. Fear of regional anaesthesia is still high in our environment and the level of dissatisfaction with RA is relatively high. Therefore, there is a need for pre-anaesthetic clinics to provide better understanding of regional anesthesia