Positive perceptions on safety and satisfaction during a patient-centered timeout before peripheral nerve blockade.

Objectives: To determine the psychometric outcomes of patients participating in an extensive patient-centered verification process before receiving sedation for regional anesthesia.
Design: Survey.
Setting: Perioperative areas of university-affiliated hospital.
Patients: Two hundred eligible patients scheduled for elective orthopedic surgery undergoing peripheral nerve blockade.
Interventions: Postoperative survey evaluating patient perception, experience, and satisfaction with the anesthetic timeout before regional anesthesia.
Measurements: Measures using numeric rating scales were obtained on patient perceptions of safety, confidence in anesthesia provider, anxiety, and positive sentiments during participation in block timeout. These variables were analyzed using logistic regression models to correlate with reported pain and satisfaction perioperatively.
Main Results: One hundred seventy-five patients (93% enrollment) completed the study. More than 90% of patients reported agreeing strongly to feeling safe, confident, relaxed, and positive about their participation in the block timeout. These sentiments are associated with less reported perioperative pain and higher overall satisfaction.
Conclusions: Patient perceptions of confidence and safety in regional anesthesia providers were enhanced by a preprocedural timeout process. These positive attitudes are associated with a superior perioperative experience and patient satisfaction.
(Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)