Quality of Anesthesia Care in a University Hospital in Thailand.

BACKGROUND: Service quality is an important factor, which value differs between the patient's satisfaction and expectation. The patient's expectations are important factors for development. This service quality is a key part for improvement of our anesthesia service. In general, an improvement in service design and delivery helps to achieve higher levels of the service quality. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the level of patient's expectation, patient's satisfaction and the quality of anesthesia care in a university hospital in Thailand MATERIAL AND METHOD: The patient satisfaction questionnaire, developed from service quality criteria and patient satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ-18), was applied to evaluate 467 in patients 24-72 hours after anesthesia care. The patients'expectation was also assessed A proportional stratified randomized allocation was done. The questionnaire consisted of three dimensions; 1) structure: reliability & empathy, 2) process: assurance & tangible and 3) result: responsiveness. Data expectation and satisfaction were analyzed with mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA and normalized gain for the quality of anesthesia care. RESULTS: The patient's satisfaction in our anesthesia care is relatively high. The mean patient's satisfaction score is significantly higher than the mean patient's expectation in all dimensions. This study indicated that an anesthesia service in our hospital was a high quality service in the inpatient aspects. CONCLUSION: Patient's expectation and satisfaction with anesthesia services in our setting was relatively high. Although most patients never had been any expectation regarding anesthesia service, the information and the involvement in decision- making were the most requirements of the adult inpatients.

Femoral nerve block using 0.25% or 0.5% bupivacaine for analgesia after arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: Femoral nerve block (FNB) with varying concentrations of bupivacaine is often used for postoperative analgesia after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether FNB using 0.25% or 0.5% bupivacaine provided better analgesia with less effect on quadriceps strengths after ACL reconstruction. MATERIAL AND METHOD: One hundred patients were randomized to receive FNB with 20 mL of 0.25% or 0.5% bupivacaine. Data regarding demographic, effectiveness of FNB, time to first pain, time to first analgesic, pain scores, morphine use, and recovery of sensory and motor function were recorded. RESULTS: Median time to first morphine requirement was 12 hours in 0.5% bupivacaine group and 10 hours in 0.25% bupivacaine group (p = 0.048). Pain score at 18 hours was lower in 0.5% bupivacaine group compared with 0.25% bupivacaine group (p = 0.001). When specify to the patellar tendon graft subgroup, the patients requiring morphine were 70% in 0.5% bupivacaine group and 90% in 0.25% bupivacaine group (p = 0.03). No differences were found in demographic data, effectiveness of FNB, time to first pain, morphine consumption, and recovery of sensorimotor function. CONCLUSION: FNB with 0.5% bupivacaine provided longer time to first analgesic and lower narcotic requirements after patellar tendon graft ACL reconstruction when compared to 0.25% bupivacaine. Both concentrations showed similar effect on quadriceps strengths.

An economic evaluation of bupivacaine plus fentanyl versus ropivacaine alone for patient-controlled epidural analgesia after total-knee replacement procedure: a double-blinded randomized study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Total-knee replacement (TKR) surgery is one of the most painful orthopedic procedures after surgery. Opioid has been commonly combined with a local anesthetic to improve the quality of pain relief, but the treatment has opioid-related side effects. This study compared the cost effectiveness of patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) with 0.0625% bupivacaine plus fentanyl (BF) 3 microg/mL versus 0.15% ropivacaine alone (R) during the first 48 hours after TKR procedure. METHODS: This prospective randomized double-blinded study was performed on 70 patients who underwent unilateral TKR procedure and received either BF or R after surgery. Visual analog scale (VAS) pain score at rest and upon movement, side effects, and cost of treatment were compared. RESULTS: Overall pain at rest and upon movement between groups was not significantly different (P = 0.58, 95% CI = 4.4 to -7.8 and P = 0.8, 95% CI = 6.4 to -8.2, respectively). Patients in the BF group experienced more pruritus and had more vomiting episodes than those in the R group (P = .015), whereas no difference occurred in other side effects. Nevertheless, patient satisfaction with pain management was higher in the BF group compared with that in the R group. In addition, pain treatment with bupivacaine and fentanyl was 18% less costly compared with ropivacaine alone. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the economic evaluation, we conclude that PCEA with 0.0625% bupivacaine plus fentanyl 3 microg/mL is more cost effective and provides more patient satisfaction than PCEA with ropivacaine alone. However, use of epidural ropivacaine alone causes fewer opioid-related side effects, particularly pruritus and vomiting.