Effect of education level and previous anaesthesia exposure on knowledge and perception about anaesthesia and anaesthesiologist: A questionnaire based observational study

Introduction and Aim: Anaesthesia as speciality has evolved very much but the services are yet very much under recognized. This may be partly because of low knowledge of anaesthesia and anaesthesiologists. School education level of patients may also affect this. This study was conducted to assess the patient's knowledge and perception about the role of anaesthesiologists, anaesthesia and their relationship with different educational level of patients and previous anaesthesia exposure Materials and Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted with 150 participants aged > 15 years of either sex posted for elective surgery. A questionnaire was used as data collection tool. Data of entire cohort as well as in different subgroups based on education level and previous exposure were calculated and compared using INSTAT software and p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: All the participants (56.67% female; mean age 39.36 + 12.63 years) completed the questionnaire. Their knowledge and awareness of anaesthesia and anaesthesiologists was very poor. Even patients with previous anaesthesia exposure were having poor knowledge (3 to 41 % in different aspects). No difference in knowledge and awareness was noted with different educational level (p > 0.05). Previously exposed patients had significantly more knowledge regarding ‘who makes you unconscious', ‘types of anaesthesia' and routes of ‘general anaesthesia administration' but it failed to show difference in other aspects. Conclusion: Knowledge about anaesthesia and anaesthesiologists are still very poor. School education has no positive impact and previous anaesthesia exposure increases the knowledge in limited aspects.