Patients’ Knowledge and Attitude towards Anesthesia in Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital

Abstract

Background: In Ethiopia, anesthesia as a discipline and anesthetist as a professional is not well recognized by the public.\rIn studies done in around the world, the public knowledge of the anesthesia as a discipline and lower compared to other\rmedical discipline.\rObjectives: The objective of this study was to determine patients’ knowledge and attitude towards anesthesia in TikurAnbesa\rspecialized Hospitals, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from March 30- June 11, 2015 G.C\rMethod: The study was conducted in TikurAnbesa Specialized Hospital. An analytic cross-sectional study design was conducted\rfrom March 30- June 11, 2015 G.C. All adult elective patients in TikurAnbesa Specilaized Hospital during the study\rperiod were used as a sample.\rResults: Ninety two percent (92%) of the patients believed that anesthesia is necessary for surgery and 79% of patients\rresponded that a surgeon decides if a patient is fit for anesthesia. Sixty eight percent (68.2%) had poor knowledge & attitude\rtowards anesthesia with a mean score of 9.98.\rConclusion: Despite surveys on the overall knowledge & attitude of patients overseas also shows poor results, in our study\rit is much more significant number of patients who had poor knowledge & attitude.