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Background and goal of the study: Day surgery patients are given postoperative instructions not to drink alcohol, drive or make important decisions and to have a responsible adult stay with them for 24 h. A 1972 study showed 6% of day surgery patients drank alcohol while 73% of car owning patients drove within 24 h of discharge [1]. Our study was to determine the current number of patients complying with postoperative instructions.
Materials and methods: 750 randomly selected day surgery patients participated in the study, following institutional approval. On discharge, patients were given verbal and written instructions not to drink alcohol, drive or make important decisions for 24 h. Using a standard questionnaire patients were telephoned at 24 h to record: instructions received, mode of transport home, alcohol ingestion, driving a vehicle, making important decisions and presence of a responsible adult at home.
Results and discussion: All 750 patients were contacted and responded to the questionnaire. Alcohol was consumed by 1.8%, 4.1% drove vehicles while 0.1% made important decisions. 3% claimed not to have received instructions. 4% had no responsible adult with them at home. TABLE
Conclusions: Our study shows that 1.8% of day surgery patients consume alcohol, 4.1% drive vehicles, while 0.1% make important decisions within 24 h of discharge. 4% of patients have no responsible adult with them at home.
Acknowledgements: We received no financial or commercial support for the study.
