Awareness, satisfaction, and associated factors of preoperative nursing care among adults undergoing major surgery in selected government teaching hospitals, Colombo district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Preoperative nursing care is integral to surgical outcomes, influencing patient satisfaction and recovery. Multiple factors are associated with patient awareness and satisfaction on preoperative nursing care. There is limited data on such care in government teaching hospitals in Sri Lanka. The study aims to assess awareness, satisfaction and associated factors on pre-operative nursing care among adults who underwent major surgeries at selected government teaching hospitals in the Colombo District, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 430 patients (>18 years) who underwent major surgeries at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka and Colombo South Teaching Hospital. Data were collected using consecutive sampling and a pretested, content-validated, interviewer-administered questionnaire. Descriptive and chi-square analyses were performed using SPSS version 27 (p < 0.05). The mean value was used as the cutoff for knowledge levels due to normal data distribution. Among 430 participants, 224 (52.1%) had low awareness, and 206 (47.9%) had high awareness. The mean awareness level was 57.62% (SD ± 17.77). The mean satisfaction level was 80.79% (SD ± 10.85), with 318 (74%) demonstrating high satisfaction and 112 (26%) low satisfaction. Significant associations between awareness with gender (p= 0.020), marital status (p=0.018), income (p=0.001), type of surgery (p=0.019), illness duration (p=0.004), expectations (p=0.026), current health (p=0.003), healthcare workers in family (p=0.003), and caregiver availability (p=0.011) were found. Satisfaction was significantly associated with gender (p=0.006), illness duration (p=0.007), and patient expectations towards nursing care (p=0.001). A significant proportion of patients exhibited high awareness, while gaps remained in knowledge about personal preparation. Also, overall satisfaction was impressively high; multiple socio-demographic and surgery-related factors influenced both awareness and satisfaction. Standardized pre-operative health education sessions are recommended to enhance the outcomes.