Background: In order to improve perioperative subjective quality of care it seems desirable to shorten preoperative fasting times as much as possible within acceptable safety limits. These efforts should result in a measurable reduction of preoperative thirst and hunger as well as in improvements of patient well-being. It is unknown to what extent preoperative patient comfort is limited by thirst and hunger from a patient point of view. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a traditional fasting regimen on preoperative patient discomfort.
Patients and methods: We conducted a survey on preoperative thirst and hunger in 412 adult American Society of Anesthesiologists ASA I and II patients scheduled for minor elective surgery.
Results: Of the patients 33% complained of moderate to strong thirst, whereas 19% had moderate to strong hunger, 47% of the participants would have liked to have been able to drink and 72% would have appreciated a light breakfast before surgery. Mean preoperative fasting times were 12.8+/-3.4 h for fluids and 15.5+/-4.4 h for solids. "Thirst" was named by 3.3% and "hunger" by 0.8% of patients as the most important factor for preoperative discomfort but "long wait" (8.5%), "tenseness" (6.5%) and "anxiety" (4.8%) were the most frequently named factors. Answers were independent of the duration of preoperative fasting.
Conclusion: Patient comfort is compromised by traditional fasting rules and liberalization of these policies is desired by patients. However, efforts to reduce preoperative anxiety and tenseness might have an additional, important potential to improve perioperative quality of care from a patient's perspective.