Abstract :
Aim: Knowledge of the public about anesthesiologists is very limited although their role is crucial. We have to think why our role as anesthesiologists is not known for the public and how to make people aware of our critical role during and after surgery. Methods: The present study was conducted in a university hospital on 200 adult surgical patients posted for elective surgery to assess their awareness about anesthesia and the role of the anesthesiologists during pre, intra and post operative period and outside the operating room (OR); in ICU, painless labour and pain clinics and this is done through a questionnaire during the preoperative visit. Results: A majority 94.62% of patients felt that anesthesia was necessary for surgery .only 39.4% knew that it is given by an anesthesiologist while 25.3% of patients knew that anesthesiologist monitor and take care of vital signs throughout surgery after anesthetizing them. Patients awareness of their role in ICU (6.82%), painless labour (11.74%) and pain clinics (4.3%). Only 14.7% of patients had knowledge about anesthesia risks given in the consent form. Although people with high literacy levels had greater knowledge about anesthesia compared with the lower literacy level group (p 0.001), their mean scores felt in the average range. The statistical association between past exposure to anesthesia and knowledge about anesthesia was not significant (p 0.1). Contribution of anesthesiologists in patients knowledge was very low (6%). Conclusion: We concluded that there is wide spread illiteracy amongst the public about the role of anesthesiologists inside and outside the operating room. Therefore, sufficient time should be given to educate patients about anesthesia and role of anesthesiologists during the pre-anesthetic examination. Media; written, visual and specially important television programs that can be understood by different literacy level people can play a very important and effective role in patients education according to the questionnaire.
