Patient perception of the utility of the Preanesthetic Clinics in a Caribbean developing country.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Perception of the patients regarding the utility of the Preanesthetic Clinics and flow time in clinics has not been widely studied in the developing world. The present study aims to study this aspect. METHODS A self-administered 15-item questionnaire survey was conducted among patients attending the Preanesthetic Clinics at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Trinidad. The questionnaire was also distributed to the patients attending the General Surgical Clinic for comparison. Another questionnaire was distributed among the staff of the Preanesthetic Clinic. Patient demographics including age, gender, and educational status and American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status were noted. Other data recorded were patient flow time and details of attending staff. RESULTS Of the 220 patients who attended the Preanesthetic Clinics, 92.7% participated in the study. The reliability of the questionnaire was supported by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.67). The median time for referral from the surgical clinic to Preanesthetic Clinic was 50 days, median waiting time in the clinic was 2.7 hours, and the median waiting time for surgery after acceptance in the clinic was 13 days. The patients' opinions regarding the benefits of the clinic, length of the waiting time was independent of their age and educational status. Patients felt that attending the Preanesthetic Clinic was beneficial and not costly to them, although the waiting times were found to be longer. CONCLUSIONS Patients perceive that attending the Preanesthetic Clinic has been useful before the surgical procedure and the care they received in the clinic was satisfactory.