Time of preoperative fasting in surgical patients in a medium-sized hospital in the Federal District

Abstract

Introduction: Preoperative fasting has been done for a long time, but several studies show that its time could be reduced, with benefits for the patient. Objective: To verify the mean length of preoperative fasting in General Surgery patients at a hospital in the Federal District, Brazil. Method: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study with a quantitative approach, on the preoperative fasting time of patients undergoing general surgery in a public hospital in the Federal District. Results: Patients received instructions regarding the preoperative fasting time, in the standard time of 8 hours, but about 90% did not follow them, especially with excessively long fasts. Conclusion: The comparison between the research and the literature on preoperative fasting showed that the hospital institution needs to make some decisions regarding patient guidance, the time, foods that should be consumed and arrange for the guidelines to be written, followed by a visit by the nurse in the immediate period of hospitalization for surgery.