Résumé
Background: data and interventions are lacking for family-centred perioperative-care in adults. Perioperative information given to relatives by nurses or surgeons is associated with an improved satisfaction and less symptoms of anxiety for relatives and for the patient themself. However, the rate of information provided by anaesthesiologists during surgery has never been reported.Methods: a global cross-sectional survey study was sent to French anaesthesiologists in October 2020 to inquire how often they provided information to patients' family members during surgery and what factors were associated with providing information frequently (i.e. in more than half of cases).Results: among 607 anaesthesiologists, male responders accounted for 53% (319/607), median age was 47 (36–60) years, and most responders (96%, 580/607) had an adultbased main field of activity. Nearly half of physicians (43%, 260/607) reported more than 20 years of clinical experience. Forty-nine (8%) anaesthesiologists declared that they provide information to relatives during surgery frequently. After multivariate analysis, age >50 years, female gender and paediatric-activity were associated with providing information more frequently. Reasons for non-information included lack-of-time and dedicated space to talk to relatives. Urgent surgery or lasting more than 2 hours was identified as a privileged situation for informing relatives. Conclusions: giving information to relatives during surgery is not a common practice among anaesthesiologists. It depends highly on individual anaesthesiologists’ personal characteristics and practice. Information during surgery could be provided systematically in situations identified as being the most important by anaesthesiologists in our survey. By creating new pathways of information, we could reduce stress, and anxiety symptoms for relatives and the patient.