Background: Additional media during the pre-anesthetic visit may improve knowledge of anesthetic information, reduce anxiety, and increase patient satisfaction.

Objective: To compare three of the pre-anesthetic visit conducting methods in knowledge score of anesthetic information, anxiety, and satisfaction in patients undergoing elective general anesthesia.

Materials and Methods: The authors randomized 225 patients into three groups, the animated video plus face-to-face interview group, which included 76 patients (group V), the brochure plus face-to-face interview group, which included 73 patients (group B), and the face-to-face interview only group, which included 76 patients (group F). The patients were asked to complete the same self-evaluation questionnaires at three different times, which were before, immediately after, and on the day of surgery after the pre-anesthetic visit, to evaluate for the knowledge of anesthetic information, anxiety, and satisfaction level.

Results: At all times, the knowledge scores of anesthetic information were statistically different among the three groups (p=0.002). V and B group had higher knowledge scores when compared with F group. The mean difference between the V and F groups were 1.36 (95% CI 0.41 to 2.32, p=0.005), and between the B and F groups were 1.99 (95% CI 1.02 to 2.96, p<0.001). However, there was no difference in knowledge score between the V and B group after the visit (p>0.999 and 0.559, respectively). The anxiety scores were never statistically different between the three groups (p=0.365). While the patients had high satisfaction scores on the day of surgery, there were no statistically significant differences between the three groups (p=0.220).

Conclusion: The use of medias either animated video or brochure added to the routine face-to-face interview can improve anesthetic knowledge, but animated video was not more effective than the brochure in elective surgical patients undergoing general anesthesia. The difference in methods did not affect patient anxiety and satisfaction.

Keywords: Knowledge; Pre-anesthetic visit; General anesthesia; Video; Brochure

DOI: doi.org/10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.09.13077

Received 14 June 2021 | Revised 10 August 2021 | Accepted 10 August 2021