Disseminating information using an anesthesiology consultant report: impact on patient perceptions of quality of care.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if providing an Anesthesiology Consultant Report (ACR) to patients would result in enhanced patients' perceptions of their knowledge about their care and improve their perception of the quality of their care.


METHODS
Randomized, unblinded study.


METHODS
Outpatient center associated with tertiary care center.


METHODS
371 outpatients without adverse anesthetic events.


METHODS
Patients were randomized to receive either routine discharge instructions or routine instructions and an anesthesia discharge summary (ACR).


RESULTS
Short questionnaire with discharge packet regarding knowledge of anesthetic and questions regarding satisfaction and perceptions of quality of care was distributed. The patients in the group that received an ACR were more satisfied with the management of their pain and other symptoms (p < 0.05, by Wilcoxon rank sums) and were more satisfied overall with the quality of the anesthesia care (p < 0.01, by Wilcoxon rank sums). Taken another way, significantly more patients deemed the quality of their anesthetic care as excellent in the ACR group compared to control (83% vs. 67%, p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
Providing patients, with uneventful anesthetic courses, with information regarding their anesthetic care, in the form of the ACR, results in improved perceptions of the quality of care.
Fleisher
L A
LA
Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA. lfleishe@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
Mark
L
L
Lam
J
J
Pearlman
A
A
Fisher
Q
Q
Snyder
D S
DS
Michelson
J
J
Parker
S D
SD
D000758:Anesthesia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012017:Referral and Consultation