Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T13:15:29.162Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A survey on the knowledge and attitudes of anaesthesia providers in the United States of America, United Kingdom and Singapore on visual experiences during cataract surgery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2006

C. S. H. Tan ,
C. M. Kumar ,
G. L. Fanning ,
Y. C. Lai  and
K. G. Au Eong
C. S. H. Tan
Affiliation:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, The Eye Institute, National Healthcare Group, Singapore
C. M. Kumar
Affiliation:
The James Cook University Hospital, Academic Department of Anaesthesia, UK
G. L. Fanning
Affiliation:
Hauser-Ross Eye Institute, Sycamore, IL, USA
Y. C. Lai
Affiliation:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Department of Anaesthesia, National Healthcare Group, Singapore
K. G. Au Eong
Affiliation:
Tan Tock Seng Hospital, The Eye Institute, National Healthcare Group, Singapore Alexandra Hospital, The Eye Institute, National Healthcare Group, Singapore National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology, Singapore Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore
Get access

Extract

Summary

Background and objective: To assess the knowledge, beliefs and attitudes of anaesthesia providers on the patients' possible intraoperative visual experiences during cataract surgery under local anaesthesia. Methods: Anaesthesia providers from the Ophthalmic Anaesthesia Society (USA); British Ophthalmic Anaesthesia Society (UK); Alexandra Hospital, National University Hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore General Hospital and Changi General Hospital (Singapore) were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 146 anaesthesiologists (81.6%), 10 ophthalmologists (5.6%) and 23 nurse anaesthetists (12.8%) responded to the survey. Most respondents believed that patients would experience light perception and many also felt that patients might encounter other visual sensations such as movements, flashes, colours, surgical instruments, hands/fingers and the surgeon during the surgery. A significantly higher proportion of anaesthesia providers with previous experience of monitoring patients under topical anaesthesia believed that patients might experience the various visual sensations compared to those who have not previously monitored. For both topical and regional anaesthesia, anaesthesia providers who routinely counsel their patients are (1) more likely to believe that preoperative counselling helps or (2) were previously told by patients that they could see intraoperatively and/or that they were frightened by their visual sensations. These findings were statistically significant. Conclusions: The majority of anaesthesia providers in the USA, UK and Singapore are aware that patients may experience a variety of visual sensations during cataract surgery under regional or topical anaesthesia. Those who have previously managed patients undergoing cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia are more likely to believe this compared to those who have not.

Keywords

CATARACT EXTRACTION, surgicalINTRAOPERATIVE PERIODVISIONANAESTHESIA, CONDUCTIONregional, topical
Type
Original Article
Information
European Journal of Anaesthesiology , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , April 2006 , pp. 276 - 281
Copyright
© 2006 European Society of Anaesthesiology

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This study was presented in part at the 3rd National Healthcare Group Annual Scientific Congress, 9–10 October 2004, Singapore.

References

Tan CS, Kumar CM, Au Eong KG. Visual experiences during cataract surgery – what anaesthesia providers should know. Eur J Anaesthesiol 2005; 22: 413–419.Google Scholar
Au Eong KG, Lee HM, Lim ATH et al. Subjective visual experience during extracapsular cataract extraction and intraocular lens implantation under retrobulbar anaesthesia. Eye 1999; 13: 325–328.Google Scholar
Au Eong KG, Low CH, Heng WJ et al. Subjective visual experience during phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation under topical anaesthesia. Ophthalmology 2000; 107: 248–250.Google Scholar
Au Eong KG, Lim TH, Lee HM et al. Subjective visual experience during phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation using retrobulbar anaesthesia. J Cataract Refract Surg 2000; 26: 842–846.Google Scholar
Tranos PG, Wickremasinghe SS, Sinclair N et al. Visual perception during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under topical and regional anaesthesia. Acta Ophthalmol Scand 2003; 81: 118–122.Google Scholar
Wickremasinghe SS, Tranos PG, Sinclair N et al. Visual perception during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under sub-tenon's anaesthesia. Eye 2003; 17: 501–505.Google Scholar
Prasad N, Kumar CM, Patil BB et al. Subjective visual experience during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under sub-Tenon's block. Eye 2003; 17: 407–409.Google Scholar
Au Eong KG. 6th Yahya Cohen lecture: visual experience during cataract surgery. Ann Acad Med Singapore 2002; 31: 666–674.Google Scholar
Murdoch IE, Sze P. Visual experience during cataract surgery. Eye 1994; 8: 666–667.Google Scholar
Newman DK. Visual experience during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia. Br J Ophthalmol 2000; 84: 13–15.Google Scholar
Rengaraj V, Radhakrishnan M, Au Eong KG et al. Visual experience during phacoemulsification under topical versus retrobulbar anaesthesia: results of a prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Am J Ophthalmol 2004; 138: 782–787.Google Scholar
Levin ML, O'Connor PS. Visual acuity after retrobulbar anaesthesia. Ann Ophthalmol 1989; 11: 337–339.Google Scholar
Tan CS, Rengaraj V, Au Eong KG. Visual experiences of cataract surgery. J Cataract Refract Surg 2003; 29: 1453–1454.Google Scholar
Tan CS, Au Eong KG, Kumar CM, Rengaraj V, Radhakrishnan M. Fear caused by intraoperative visual sensations during cataract surgery. Acta Ophthalmol Scand 2005; 85 (5): 631–632.Google Scholar
Tan CS, Tang W, Tan SB et al. Visual experience during cataract surgery: a nation-wide survey on the knowledge of optometry students. Ophthal Physiol Opt 2005; 25: 219–223.Google Scholar
Voon LW, Au Eong KG, Saw SM et al. Does preoperative counselling reduce the fear of patients from visual experience during phacoemulsification under topical anaesthesia? Results of a multicenter randomized clinical trial. J Cataract and Refract Surg (in Press).