Background: Patient satisfaction is multidimensional.
The clinician's perspective of a good outcome and the patient's
experience of a satisfactory service are often two
different end-points. The primary aim of our study was to
assess the perioperative experience of patients undergoing
procedural sedation. A secondary aim was to create
a postoperative questionnaire which could be used as a
measurement tool. The questions could also be used as
an audit to assist with adherence to quality assurance and
clinical governance. Method: A questionnaire was compiled to attempt to assess
the perioperative aspects of procedural sedation.
Five hundred consecutive patients undergoing procedural
sedation for dental-related outpatient procedures were
asked to complete a questionnaire. Patients who didn't
complete it were excluded. Ninety-eight per cent of the
patients returned the questionnaire and 489 questionnaires
were evaluated.
Results: A total of 489 patients were included. Ninetythree
per cent of the patients expressed a good (7+/10)
overall experience of procedural sedation, and 92.6% indicated
that they would recommend it to others.
Conclusion: Our study population showed a high level of
satisfaction with their sedation experience. It is suggested
that the devised questionnaire could be used successfully
in future as an assessment tool or audit of patient satisfaction
following procedural sedation for ambulatory surgery.DHE