Relax and watch doc's fishing video – you won't feel a thing

PATIENTS having surgery at a Scottish hospital are being offered an entertaining alternative to traditional general anaesthetic – just lie back and watch a DVD instead.

The technique is being used to divert patients' attention while having operations on knees and hips under local anaesthetic.

It means that people who may have opted for a general anaesthetic, leaving them unconscious during the procedure, are increasingly choosing a local anaesthetic, numbing them from the waist down.

They can then watch a DVD, helping to distract their attention and reduce anxiety during the operation.

Consultant anaesthetist Dr Nick Pace, who came up with the idea, hopes it can be copied in other hospitals.

Since they started using it at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow, the number opting for local anaesthetic has increased from 25 per cent to 50 per cent in 18 months.

Dr Pace said the DVD approach had been received well by patients.

"People are intrigued by it," he said. "British people by and large do not like to remain awake during operations, unlike Scandinavian countries where you would expect maybe a 90 to 95 per cent uptake to remain awake."

Dr Pace said local spinal anaesthetic had been used for many years to operate on patients while they were still awake, but he said it was difficult finding ways of distracting patients and keeping them relaxed during the operations.

In the past doctors had tried giving them music to listen to and chatting to them during surgery, but many often still started fidgeting.

"We came up with this idea of trying to show them a DVD that either they brought in or from our own collection," Dr Pace said. "We created a cradle to house the DVD player suspended about two feet away from the patients as they are lying flat. They can watch the DVD, with headphones so they do not hear the surgery or the conversations going on.

"They are very relaxed about it and seem to find this a very good way of distracting them from what is probably quite a stressful time for them."

Dr Pace said there were benefits to having a local anaesthetic for patients, including faster recovery and feeling better afterwards. It means they can get to the ward and have something to eat and drink straight away," he said. "They are comfortable for longer than they would be if they had a general anaesthetic."

Dr Pace said he had been shocked by some of the DVD choices made by patients.

"The biggest surprise to me was when a patient brought in their own DVD two or three weeks ago and brought in Reservoir Dogs. I just thought 'What a choice!'

"We have got about 25 DVDs of our own. We have got musicals, Billy Connolly, Frankie Boyle, Top Gear.

"We have also got this fishing DVD, which is very popular. It is bizarre. It was just something I had lying at the back of my DVD cabinet at home. My wife said, 'Nobody is going to be interested in that'. But I thought it was something else to give them an option. It is remarkable. It is the number one choice from the men."

Claire Butterly, a Glasgow University receptionist, watched Rikki Fulton's comic creation the Rev IM Jolly while having ligament surgery.

"It is a strange experience but I felt more relaxed than I would have been under a general anaesthetic," the 25-year-old said.