Patient education
Patient priorities before anesthesia: a thematic analysis of preoperative questions
What do patients actually want to know before anesthesia?
This project will identify and interpret patients' most common questions and concerns about anesthesia to better meet their information needs before surgery.
Why it matters
Understanding patient priorities and concerns before anesthesia can help clinicians provide better anticipatory guidance and help patients feel more prepared before surgery.
About the project
Before an anesthesia consultation, patients arrive with questions shaped by their own circumstances: how to prepare, what the day will look like, what anesthesia will feel like, and what could go wrong. Clinicians answer these one at a time, but the pattern across many patients is rarely studied.
This project analyses the real questions patients submitted in the registered preoperative study and groups them into themes. The aim is practical: to describe what patients most often ask, and what they worry about, so that anticipatory guidance, written materials, and digital tools can address those priorities directly.
Outputs and registrations
One project, informed by a wider field of research.
CAPITAL's research themes connect projects to patient understanding, clinical fit, safety, equity, evidence, and responsible implementation.
Explore the research themes