Abstract
Background: Spinal anesthesia is the process of injecting a local anesthetic into the subarachnoid space to block the nerve roots that are supplying the surgical field in the abdomen, pelvis or lower limbs. The patients concerns about spinal anesthesia and its complications should be considered and studied carefully.
Objective: The present study was conducted with an aim to measure the degree of awareness and knowledge about spinal anesthesia complications among female population at Almadina Almunwwarah.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2018 to December 2018 using a self-administered, closed-ended questionnaire. Results: Total 1181 women were included in the study, of which the mean age was 32.33 +/- 8.31 years. Among all the respondents, 359 (30.4%) strongly preferred general anesthesia to spinal anesthesia. The respondents had low level of knowledge regarding spinal anesthesia as majority of them answered I dont know for the questions related to complications of spinal anesthesia such as urinary retention (63.5%), high blood pressure during the operation (68.9%), chronic back pain (32.5%), headache after surgery (40.1%) and hemiplegia (45.8). The mean knowledge score difference was statistically significant with respect to age groups (p <.001), level of education (p=0.044) and marital status of the respondents (p=0.025) but not with the explanation provided by the anaesthetist regarding spinal anesthesia.
Conclusion: The mean knowledge score difference was statistically significant with respect to age groups, level of education and marital status of the respondents