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A survey on the knowledge and attitudes of anaesthesia providers in the United States of America, United Kingdom and Singapore on visual experiences during cataract surgery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2006

C. S. H. Tan ,
C. M. Kumar ,
G. L. Fanning ,
Y. C. Lai  and
K. G. Au Eong
C. S. H. Tan
Affiliation:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, The Eye Institute, National Healthcare Group, Singapore
C. M. Kumar
Affiliation:
The James Cook University Hospital, Academic Department of Anaesthesia, UK
G. L. Fanning
Affiliation:
Hauser-Ross Eye Institute, Sycamore, IL, USA
Y. C. Lai
Affiliation:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Department of Anaesthesia, National Healthcare Group, Singapore
K. G. Au Eong
Affiliation:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, The Eye Institute, National Healthcare Group, Singapore Alexandra Hospital, The Eye Institute, National Healthcare Group, Singapore National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Singapore Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore
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Summary

Background and objective: To assess the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of anaesthesia providers on the patients' possible intraoperative visual experiences during cataract surgery under local anaesthesia. Methods: Anaesthesia providers from the Ophthalmic Anaesthesia Society (USA); British Ophthalmic Anaesthesia Society (UK); Alexandra Hospital, National University Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and Changi General Hospital (Singapore) were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 146 anaesthesiologists (81.6%), 10 ophthalmologists (5.6%) and 23 nurse anaesthetists (12.8%) responded to the survey. Most respondents believed that patients would experience light perception and many also felt that patients might encounter other visual sensations such as movements, flashes, colours, surgical instruments, hands/fingers and the surgeon during the surgery. A significantly higher proportion of anaesthesia providers with previous experience of monitoring patients under topical anaesthesia believed that patients might experience the various visual sensations compared to those who have not previously monitored. For both topical and regional anaesthesia, anaesthesia providers who routinely counsel their patients are (1) more likely to believe that preoperative counselling helps or (2) were previously told by patients that they could see intraoperatively and/or that they were frightened by their visual sensations. These findings were statistically significant. Conclusions: The majority of anaesthesia providers in the USA, UK and Singapore are aware that patients may experience a variety of visual sensations during cataract surgery under regional or topical anaesthesia. Those who have previously managed patients undergoing cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia are more likely to believe this compared to those who have not.

Keywords

CATARACT EXTRACTION, surgicalINTRAOPERATIVE PERIODVISIONANAESTHESIA, CONDUCTIONregional, topical
Type
Original Article
Information
European Journal of Anaesthesiology , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , April 2006 , pp. 276 - 281
Copyright
© 2006 European Society of Anaesthesiology

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Footnotes

This study was presented in part at the 3rd National Healthcare Group Annual Scientific Congress, 9–10 October 2004, Singapore.

References

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