[Increasing patient family member satisfaction with information received from a post-anesthesia care unit]

Families of patients in post-anesthesia care units (PACUs), often feel anxious because of a lack of information on patient condition and post-operative care. Based on interviews with families, we designed a family information needs questionnaire to measure family information needs, satisfaction with information received, satisfaction with post-operative care, and level of perceived anxiety. Results of a questionnaire survey taken in March 2011 revealed an average satisfaction-level score of 75.5%. Factors negatively affecting satisfaction included lack of orientation information on the PACU, unclear PACU navigation information, and general comprehension difficulties due to anxiety.

A project was designed to increase PACU patient family members' satisfaction levels with information received.

In April 2011, education material was developed that provided relevant PACU care and PACU orientation information.

Improvements directly associated with this project included reducing the incidence of unauthorized entry of family members from 15 to 5 times per day, decreasing the average level of perceived anxiety from 3.4 to 2.2 (1-4), and increasing satisfaction from 75.5% to 92.5% (0-100).

By providing education material in response to family needs, nurses can reduce family member anxiety and increase satisfaction with nursing care.