Preoperative education improves the preparedness for extubation at emergence from general anaesthesia!

Preoperative patient education is an essential responsibility of any healthcare provider, especially an anaesthetist, and is beneficial for perioperative outcome. A smooth emergence and extubation is a clinical skill that needs to be mastered by an anaesthetist. The aim of this study was to analyse whether a detailed preoperative patient education improves the quality of and preparedness for extubation at emergence from general anaesthesia.

One hundred patients were randomly assigned to two groups. The study group received a detailed preoperative patient education and counselling about the mode of anaesthesia, extubation process and their expected response at extubation while the control group received the routine counselling. The Extubation Quality Scale at emergence and the recovery profile in the post anaesthesia care unit were assessed for both groups.

The primary outcome was a better quality of extubation in the patients who received a detailed preoperative patient education. The Extubation Quality Scale was found to be better for patients in the study group (p < 0.001). The endotracheal tube tolerance at a minimum alveolar concentration of ≤0.2 and response to verbal commands at extubation were better for the study group (p < 0.05) besides an earlier discharge from post anaesthesia care unit (p < 0.005).

Preoperative patient education improves the patients' preparedness for and quality of extubation and recovery from general anaesthesia.