Acquaintance of patients with the aims of pre-operative anesthesia evaluation clinics

Anesthesia is peri-operative medicine. The role of anesthesiologist in the quality of care rendered to patients during the pre-operative period is well known. The role of pre-operative anesthesia clinics in providing better conditions for patients undergoing anesthesia is now well documented. This study was performed to evaluate the familiarity of Iranian patients with the aims of anesthesia clinics 10 years after the establishment of such clinics in Iran. All patients referred to anesthesia clinics in two university medical centers were evaluated during a 2-week period. A questionnaire was given to them and answers were analyzed and interpreted by statistical methods. Of the 286 patients who participated in this study, 56% were males and 44% were females; 43% of them were familiar with the goals of pre-op anesthesia, 83% of the patients mentioned that pre-op evaluation was the reason of their referral and 67% gave a positive feed-back on the clinic. The need for creating more motivation in patients and physicians was mentioned by 83% of the patients. Considering the statistical results, it seems that there is a great need to familiarize patients with the goals of these clinics and to create some motivation in them. By doing so, we can hope to offer better services to patients and reduce the anesthesia complications and anxiety