Preanesthesia Premedication

Abstract

Have you ever wondered what coffee is? Coffee is just an excuse. An excuse to tell a friend that you love him."-Edoardo De Crescenzo This quote from Edoardo De Crescenzo, a famous Neapolitan writer, director, and actor, explains one important truth: in Naples, coffee is not only the propellant to ease through night shifts; it is a social moment to be shared. It involves everyone and erases any power relations and all feelings of awe. All men are equal over a cup of steaming hot espresso coffee. To soothe the anxiety of our patients, we are used to sedating them, sometimes even before they reach the operating room. Midazolam is great, clonidine is very sophisticated, and propofol is super effective. .. but have you ever tried coffee? When it's time to empathize with patients about to undergo surgery, coffee is the ultimate icebreaker. When health issues are at play, patients always have mixed feelings, fear and awe, especially of those providing them with care. Actually, caregivers often do nothing to erase this distance: sometimes they do not want to, and sometimes they can't, because dealing with pain can consume one's attention, especially if you associate it with a single face, a voice, a person. We have therefore created complex scores and predictive tables to understand and codify perioperative anxiety, as if it were something inexplicable or incomprehensible, while it is the most human and spontaneous reaction of patients, especially those admitted into a cancer hospital.