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The attitudes of patients and health care personnel to rectal drug administration following day case surgery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2006

S. A. Colbert
Affiliation:
Department of Anaesthesia, University College Hospital, Galway, Republic of Ireland
D. O’Hanlon
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, University College Hospital, Galway, Republic of Ireland
O. McAnena
Affiliation:
Department of Surgery, University College Hospital, Galway, Republic of Ireland
N. Flynn
Affiliation:
Department of Anaesthesia, University College Hospital, Galway, Republic of Ireland
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Abstract

The use of suppositories has been examined following a recent case in which an anaesthetist was reported to the United Kingdom General Medical Council. This study examined the preference for routes of administration of post-operative analgesia. A semi-structured interview with a written questionnaire was administered to 610 subjects (49 doctors; 62 nurses; 67 paramedical staff; 44 other hospital employees; 388 patients). Four hundred and fifty (74%) preferred the intravenous (i.v.) route, 24 (4%) preferred a suppository while 136 (22%) found either route acceptable. The i.v. route was most popular with young (98% under 20 years) females (79%) social class I subjects (90%), doctors (96%), nurses (95%), those who had never had a suppository (81%) and those who had ill effects following a previous suppository (95%). This result suggests that patients are more tolerant of suppositories than hospital staff but the majority prefer the i.v. route.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
1998 European Society of Anaesthesiology

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