Patient education in relation to informational needs and postoperative complications in surgical patients.

Objective: To study surgical patients' informational expectations and the level of received knowledge at the time of hospital discharge. To examine if there is an association with postoperative complications and the patient´s level of received knowledge.

Design: Comparative descriptive design.

Setting: The data on patients admitted for non-cardiac surgery were collected in three phases during an eight-month period.

Participants: 258 in-ward non-cardiac general surgery and orthopedic surgery adult patients.

Interventions: Questionnaires before admission (knowledge expectations) and at discharge (received knowledge). A telephone interview 30 days after discharge.

Main Outcome Measures: Received knowledge (as much or more / less) compared to expectations, and its association with post-discharge complications.

Results: There were differences between patient groups in their perception of receiving enough knowledge and they were connected to gender (male vs. female OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.55-4.60, P = 0.0004) and procedure (elective orthopedic implant surgery vs. elective minor orthopedic and hand surgery: OR 3.25, 95% CI 1.72-6.17, P = 0.0003). Patients who received less knowledge than expected had more postoperative complications than those who received sufficient (as much or more than expected) information.

Conclusions: Patients differ in terms of informational needs, and preoperative education prepares the patient for the information provided postoperatively. Patient education may have an influence on recovery from surgery.