[The practice of postanesthesia visits - a questionnaire study]

Regular postanesthesia visits allow the detection of anesthesia related complications and increase patient satisfaction. Consequently, the performance of postanesthesia visits has been recommended after certain types of anesthesia. However, no data is available concerning the current practice of postanesthesia visits. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate quantity, organization, contents, significance and problems of postanesthesia visits in Germany.

For this prospective closed-design survey, a questionnaire, consisting of 13 questions, was designed and tested for objectivity, reliability and validity. Subsequently, 3955 registered anesthesiologists were contacted via email to answer this survey.

Return rate was 31.4%; 958 questionnaires were included in the study. Only a small portion of patients was estimated to receive a postanesthesia visit (median: 20.0%). In hospitals with a specific postanesthesia visit service, this number was significantly higher (median: 65.0%, p<0.001) vs. no postanesthesia visit service. Postanesthesia visits usually lasted less than 5minutes (60.0%), and were typically conducted on the day of surgery (48.0%), after regular working hours (55.0%). 38.0% of the respondents reported to detect perioperative complications intermittently during their visits. While 98.0% of all respondents believe that postanesthesia visits improve the quality of their own work, 86.0% of the participants complain a lack of time for this task.

Our survey indicates that current working conditions prevent a regular postanesthesia visit routine. Considering the high appreciation of postanesthesia visits by anesthesiologists, as well as the relevant incidence of postoperative complications detected during these visits, it seems desirable to consider organizational improvements for postanesthesia care.