Attitudes of anaesthetists attending the funeral of patients they care for: a cross-sectional survey amongst Australian and New Zealand Anaesthetists

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The role of holistic approach to patient-centred care and empathic anaesthesia practice has been growing over the last decade. The concept of a bio-psycho-social model of care, which readily integrates modern medicine together with treating the patient and their family, is widely accepted by anaesthetists. This can include the attendance at the patient’s funeral to share the grieving process with the family for the loss of their beloved one. Anaesthetists, however, have been traditionally considered as having short-term doctor-patient relationship, which makes the application of bio-psycho-social model of care more challenging. Although research with bereaved families has shown that they appreciate contact with clinicians after a patient’s death, this realm of clinical practice remains empirically uncharted. We aim to discover the attitudes of, and perceived benefits and barriers to Australian anaesthetists in attending the funeral of a patient that they cared for. A cross-sectional survey of Australian and New Zealand anaesthetists is employed using commercial, Web-based survey (Survey Monkey®). The survey contains 17 questions that aim to solicit information about the attitudes of anaesthetists attending the funeral of a patient that they cared for. Participants will also be asked to self-report geographic region, age, gender, public vs. private hospital, type of hospital (rural, secondary, tertiary level) and their area of practice (anaesthesia, intensive care, pain medicine or other). An invitation letter which includes objectives of the study, a brief summary of the study, information about consent and a link to the online survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JPZJC7R) will be distributed to consultant anaesthetists via an invitation letter to directors of anesthesia departments asking them to forward an email link to their fellows of ANZCA in their department. The email link will have an invitation letter that clearly informs the participants to complete the survey. The survey is voluntary and anonymous, and no email or website IP (internet protocol) address will be collected. The survey will be open for approximately one month. Objectives of the study are to discover Australian and New Zealand anaesthetists' attitudes of, and perceived benefits and barriers to attending the funeral of patients whom they cared for.

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