Evaluation of patient satisfaction and recovery time following different anesthetic techniques at the San Ignacio University Hospital

Introduction. Evaluating patient satisfaction following anesthesia is an important parameter for quality control and on-going improvement of hospital care. The objectives of the study were to assess patient satisfaction following the administration of general, regional or combined anesthesia (regional neuroaxial and general) at the San Ignacio University Hospital and measuring the length of stay at the PACU, depending on the anesthetic technique used. Methods. A prospective observational study was designed collecting information from 550 patients; 200 procedures under general anesthesia, 200 with central regional or neuroaxial anesthesia, 100 with regional peripheral anesthesia and 50 procedures using combined anesthesia (general and regional neuroaxial). Personnel not involved with the study or with the anesthetic procedure administered a survey designed to measure patient satisfaction. The survey included open questions, multiple-choice and the verbal analogue scale to measure patient satisfaction. The length of stay at the PACU was established in terms of the time elapsed until the patient's condition was appropriate for discharge. Results. 99.1 % of the patients reported being pleased with the anesthetic procedure. There were no significant differences among the different techniques. Among other complaints, the most frequent were pain and feeling cold at the PACU and painful administration of the anesthetic. The length of stay at the PACU was significantly shorter with regional peripheral anesthesia as compared to the other techniques used. Conclusions. These results lead us to conclude that the length of stay at the PACU is shorter with regional peripheral anesthesia than with the other anesthetic techniques; patient satisfaction seems to be the same, regardless of the anesthetic technique evaluated.