Tempo de jejum pré-operatório em pacientes cirúrgicos de um hospital de médio porte no Distrito Federal

Abstract

Introduction: Preoperative fasting has been done for a long time, but several studies showthat its time could be reduced, with benefits for the patient. Objective: To verify the meanlength 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, onthe preoperative fasting time of patients undergoing general surgery in a public hospital in theFederal District. Results: Patients received instructions regarding the preoperative fastingtime, 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 avisit by the nurse in the immediate period of hospitalization for surgery.