Electronic Cigarettes: Anesthetic Considerations to Improve Clinical Practice

Purpose. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to develop and present an educational video presentation to anesthesia providers regarding anesthetic considerations for patients who use electronic cigarettes, and to assess whether the educational presentation causes a change in the anesthesia providers’ attitudes, knowledge, confidence, and intent to change clinical practice. Background. The prevalence of electronic cigarette use has been increasing, especially among adolescents and young adults. Research findings have associated electronic cigarette use with multiple adverse health effects that should be considered when providing anesthetic care to these patients. Anesthesia providers may not be fully informed about these effects and may not be adequately screening patients for electronic cigarette use prior to surgery. Methods. Participants were instructed to take a pretest survey, view a pre-recorded educational presentation, and then complete a posttest survey. The surveys were intended to assess for changes in anesthesia providers’ self-reported attitudes, knowledge, confidence, and intent to change clinical practice before and after viewing the presentation. Results. Three out of 25 anesthesia providers participated in the project. All participants reported improved attitudes towards the importance of anesthetic considerations for electronic cigarette users, increased knowledge, increased confidence in caring for patients who use electronic cigarettes, and a positive intent to include questions about electronic cigarette use when interviewing patients preoperatively as well as to incorporate the anesthetic considerations described in the educational presentation in their clinical practices. Conclusions. Although the survey results showed changes had occurred in the outcome measures, due to the limited sample size no conclusions could be drawn.