Assessing Patient Satisfaction with Anesthesia: Attempting to be Painless and Safe

Abstract

  Due to the current shift from a provider-driven to a patient-focused health care system, informed consent prior to anesthesia administration has become more important than ever. Patients undergoing anesthesia certainly expect it to be “painless and safe.” Since 1999, our hospital has implemented the Acute Pain Service (APS) based on a multidisciplinary team approach for controlling postoperative pain. To relieve postoperative pain, we primarily use electrically-driven patient- controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps, with which 4,000 or more patients have been treated. It is necessary to construct an appropriate system to operate and control multiple pumps safely. The cooperation of nurses and other medical personnel, such as clinical technicians and pharmacists, is also essential.