Patients talk about their postanesthesia shaking experiences

Postanesthesia shaking is a frequent complication developing for unknown reasons during emergence from general anesthesia. The sources of primary knowledge concerning how patients describe their postanesthesia shaking experiences are sparse. This study presents data to expand the body of PACU nursing knowledge through patients offering information about the shaking phenomenon. In an attempt to categorize ways patients talk about their shaking experience, the research question guiding this study was this: How do patients talk about the postanesthesia shaking phenomenon? This descriptive research used an interview design. Telephone interviews were conducted with 103 subjects. Tape recorded interviews with the 43 subjects who remembered their shaking experience are included in the presentation of data. These data show that when patients were asked to talk about their shaking experience, they not only had memory of the postanesthesia shaking phenomenon, but they talked about their shaking experience in various ways. Further research is needed to promote a greater understanding of patient responses to this postanesthesia complication.