Study objective: To assess patients' perception of the role of an anesthesiologist in a Caribbean country.
Design: Self-administered structured questionnaire evaluation.
Setting: Preoperative waiting rooms of three tertiary-care teaching hospitals: Port of Spain General Hospital, Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, and San Fernando General Hospital, Trinidad.
Patients: 424 adult surgical patients awaiting elective surgery.
Interventions: None.
Measurements: A questionnaire was devised to test the knowledge of the respondents regarding the job description, attitudes, and various roles of anesthesiologists in the hospital.
Main results: 371 completed responses were obtained for analysis. One tenth of the respondents did not know who an anesthesiologist was and 59% of them knew that an anesthesiologist was a doctor; there was a statistically significant association of the educational level of the respondent and this response. Of the respondents, 70% felt that the anesthesiologists were easy to talk to and pleasant by the bedside; 46% responded that the anesthesiologists did not discuss the complications and side effects of drugs before the procedure; 5% considered the anesthesiologists as more important than the surgeon, and 59% considered both equally important. Only 19% responded that they knew that the anesthesiologists had a role in the intensive care unit.
Conclusions: Patients still have inadequate knowledge regarding anesthesiologists and their different roles in hospitals.