The attitudes of patients and health care personnel to rectal drug administration following day case surgery.
The use of suppositories has been examined following a recent case in which an anaesthetist was reported to the United Kingdom General Medical Council. This study examined the preference for routes of administration of post-operative analgesia. A semistructured interview with a written questionnaire was administered to 610 subjects (49 doctors; 62 nurses; 67 paramedical staff; 44 other hospital employees; 388 patients). Four hundred and fifty (74%) preferred the intravenous (i.v.) route, 24 (4%) preferred a suppository while 136 (22%) found either route acceptable. The i.v. route was most popular with young (98% under 20 years) females (79%) social class I subjects (90%), doctors (96%), nurses (95%), those who had never had a suppository (81%) and those who had ill effects following a previous suppository (95%). This result suggests that patients are more tolerant of suppositories than hospital staff but the majority prefer the i.v. route.
Colbert
S A
SA
Department of Anaesthesia, University College Hospital, Galway, Republic of Ireland.
O'Hanlon
D
D
McAnena
O
O
Flynn
N
N
D000285:Administration, Rectal; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D010820:Physicians; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D013488:Suppositories; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000700:Analgesics; D013488:Suppositories