Background and Goal of Study: Anaesthesiology informed consent may be different from other medical and surgical specialties since patients rarely decide whether or not they want to be anaesthetized, but rather which of the anaesthesia techniques they prefer for procedure. On the other hand, patients often only know their anaesthesiologist the day before or on the day of the surgical procedure, which influences the relationship and the doctor-patient communication.The aim of our study was to evaluate patients´ expectations about the informed consent of anaesthesia in the preoperative period.
Materials and Methods: Longitudinal study with application of a survey, performed on the day before surgery to all patients proposed for elective surgery at Hospital de Santa Maria on October 20th, 2016. Patients younger than 18 years were excluded.
Results and Discussion: Thirty-four patients were inquired (aged 24-91 years), of which 20 were females (58.8%). Four patients were classified as ASA I (11,8%), 21 ASA II (61.8%) and 9 ASA III (26.5%).Eight patients (23.5%) had anaesthesia consultation and 13 (38.2%) had pre-anaesthetic visit. 10 patients (29.4%) were informed before going to the operating room about the type of anaesthesia planned, of which 5 (50%) were informed by the anaesthesiologist during anaesthesia consultation, 3 (30%) by the anaesthesiologist at pre-anaesthetic visit and 2 (20%) by the surgeon; 80% of them felt clear about the explanation of the anaesthetic procedure.
Twelve patients (35.3%) considered risks that are serious but very rare should not be discussed prior to anaesthesia; on the other hand, risks that are less serious but more frequent should be discussed prior to anaesthesia in the opinion of 28 (82,4%).
Six patients (17.6%) considered 1 week before surgery the best time to discuss anaesthetic risks, 3 (8.8%) more than 1 month of surgery, 10 (29.4%) the day before surgery, 9 (26.5%) on the same day and 6 (17.6%) had no opinion.
Conclusion(s): Our findings highlight the value of pre-anaesthetic informed consent, despite the potential of increasing patient's anxiety. Most of them prefer discussion of less serious but more frequent risks, and prefer it close to surgery. Although challenges to effective pre-anaesthetic informed consent exist, Anaesthesiologist should acknowledge patient's desire for information and we should probably improve it in our pre-anaesthetic visit.

Patient’s perspectives on informed consent for anaesthesia: our reality and thoughts for the future