Duties of anesthetists and assessment of awareness, concerns and expectations on anesthesia practices

Duties of Anesthetists and Assessment of Awareness, Concerns and Expectations on Anesthesia Practices Determining the level of knowledge of the society about the anesthesia practices and the duties of anesthetists, determining the causes of anxiety are important for establishing a healthy relationship between the patient and the anesthesiologist and determining the duties assigned to the anesthesiologist on this subject. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the knowledge levels of patient and/or relatives about anesthesia practices and anesthesiologists and to determine the cause of anxiety if any, by the questionnaire conducted preoperatively in patients and/or relatives who were planned for elective surgery. 400 patients and/or relatives between the ages of 18 and 85 years who were scheduled to undergo elective surgery at Hacettepe University Hospital, or who referred to anesthesia policlinic for preoperative anesthesia evaluation or who underwent preoperative anesthesia evaluation at bedside, between March 2017 and October 2017, were included. As a result of the study, the patient / patient relatives were found to have a lack of knowledge about anesthesia applications, anesthetists and duties of anesthetists and it was determined that the level of knowledge increased with education level, but not changed by gender and previous experience of anesthesia. It is thought that the patients should be informed adequately in the preoperative period by the anesthesiologists, and the informative auxiliary materials such as brochures, booklets, video or audio tapes should be used. In addition, it is concluded that, in order to raise public awareness about anesthesia, establishing the health policies countrywide is necessary and taking the advantage of the communication tools such as television and internet is possible. Key Words: Anesthesia, survey, level of knowledge