Perioperative fasting management by traumatic surgeons in China / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the current perioperative fasting management by Chinese traumatic surgeons for elective patients and the related awareness in Chinese traumatic surgeons.Methods Traumatic surgeons were interviewed through questionnaires which addressed the current pre-and post-operative fasting time for liquid and solid food in their hospitals,the postoperative practice to keep the patients in recumbent position without pillow,their reasons to choose perioperative fasting management and their knowledge of the current related guidelines.The associations between surgeons' information and their reasons to choose fasting management and their knowledge of the related guidelines were analyzed.Results A total of 187 valid questionnaires were collected.The percentages of the surgeons who indicated perioperative fasting time for liquid for at least 2 hours and for solid food for at least 6 hours were only 3.74％ and 27.27％,respectively.Nil by mouth from midnight for liquid or for solid food was actually indicated by 29.95％ and 31.55％ of the surgeons,respectively.64.71％ of the surgeons still required their patients to fast for liquid for at least 6 hours postoperatively,even longer for solid food.Only 1.6％ of the surgeons did not ask their patients to keep in recumbent position without pillow postoperatively whatever the anesthesia types were.Only 6.95％ of the surgeons chose a perioperative fasting protocol based on the related guidelines.Only 9.09％ of the surgeons knew the related guidelines very well.The reasons of the surgeons to choose a perioperative fasting protocol and the knowledge of the surgeons about the related guidelines were not associated with the professional ranks of the surgeons,hospital ranking or hospital location (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions The current management of perioperative fasting is backward in the Chinese communities of traumatic orthopedics,and the related guidelines are not well implemented due to the poor awareness of them.