Day-case laparoscopy in a Ghanaian teaching hospital: the patient's perspective

A questioning survey was carried out to determine the acceptability to patients of various aspects of day-case laparoscopy in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. One hundred consecutive patients were interviewed within 2 weeks after operation. Sources of dissatisfaction include inadequate explanation about the operation and its aftermath, hospital reporting time, the waiting times at various stages of the process, the mechanism for sending patients from the ward to the theatre and the total length of time spent in hospital. Almost half the patients felt they were not well enough to be sent home at the time of discharge. More than half would have preferred overnight stay postoperatively. The main causes of morbidity were dizziness, abdominal pain, shoulder pain, nausea and vomiting. To make day-case laparoscopy more acceptable to patients a dedicated day care surgery unit with formal anaesthetic cover should be established. The operation and its aftermath should be fully explained to patients well before the day of operation. Stricter criteria should be established for patient discharge, and where appropriate, patients should be allowed the option of overnight stay post-operatively.