A survey of patients’ perceptions of difficult airway alert cards in the UK

• Published in: Trends in anaesthesia & critical care Vol. 38; pp. 26 - 29
• Main Authors: Sajayan, Achuthan, Mir, Fauzia, Quffa, Leila, Ponnusamy, Karthik, McNarry, Alistair
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Alert card; Anaesthesia; Difficult airway; Anaesthesia; Database; Alert card; Difficult airway
• ISSN: 2210-8440
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tacc.2021.04.006

Effective communication between anaesthetists is an important way of ensuring adequate management plans are made for patients with known difficult airways. The Difficult Airway Society developed an electronic database to facilitate this. Previous studies have surveyed attitudes and behaviours of anaesthetists and primary care physicians but not patients. We sought opinions of patients who received a difficult airway database alert card (signifying their pre-consented registration) on a variety of topics. We asked 10 questions regarding i) Quality of information received, ii) Views on the relevance of the alert card, iii) patient’s overall experience, iv) their opinion regarding paying a fee. All 402 patients on the database were contacted once (follow-up curtailed by COVID-19). We received 221 replies (55%). Ninety-seven percent (205/211) reported the card useful, 90% (191/211) recalling the information given. All those (49/203, 24%) having a further anaesthetic had presented their card to the anaesthetist/preoperative team. 6% (13/203) felt anxious having the card and almost one fifth (12/67) of the respondents suggested improved communication between anaesthetists, patients and primary care physicians (GPs). Half of responders were willing to pay for the service, while 17% (36/211) were not. Difficult airway alert cards are well received by the patients and are re-presented when future anaesthetics are required. Improved transfer of information between anaesthetists, primary care physicians and patients was a popular theme in the feedback. The issuing of an airway alert card may prove to be a vehicle for this in the future. •Difficult Airway Society established the world’s first national electronic database for adult difficult airways.•Each patient receives a free alert card that can be presented at future hospital visits.•Nearly 25% of patients used the card again in the first two years.•Majority of the patients agree that it is a useful project.•The communication of the information about the airway incident needs to be improved.