Objective: In this study, we assessed the awareness of cognitive dysfunction and the reasons for the lack of awareness among surgical practitioners in Jiaxing.
Methods: Questionnaires were distributed to surgical practitioners covering all Class III and Class II hospitals in Jiaxing. Respondents were asked to make selections regarding the demographic data, clinical attitudes and practices of cognitive dysfunction based on Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADKS) of the Chinese version.
Results: A total of 180 questionnaires were distributed, 12 of which were incomplete, with 168 being included for analysis. The respondents were generally under 50 years of age (150, 89.3%), predominantly males (146, 86.9%), and surgeons (153, 91.1%). They generally had a bachelor’s or master’s degrees (165, 98.2%), and served in Class III hospitals (127, 75.6%). The title of the practitioner was found to impact their attention toward their patients’ cognitive status during preoperative preparation (P < 0.05). Titles and hospital levels were found to influence decisions of surgical practitioners to invite specialist physicians for consultation and assessment when a patient was identified to have cognitive dysfunction (P < 0.05). Most surgical practitioners had little knowledge or training about Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive dysfunction. Among the 168 respondents, the mean ADKS score was 20.14± 2.40, and the awareness rate was 67.1%, indicating that the surgical practitioner’s title influenced ADKS score (P< 0.001).
Conclusion: Surgical practitioners, especially young physicians and those in Class II hospitals, had lower awareness of cognitive dysfunction, with low ADKS scores; therefore, they needed to be further trained to recognize cognitive dysfunction.
Keywords: postoperative cognitive dysfunction, surgical practitioners