Taste preference of patients shortly after surgery in the Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU)

Background & aims: Early postoperative oral feeding is safe and enhances recovery after surgery. To facilitate oral intake directly after surgery in the Post Anaesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and to enhance its associated benefits, knowledge on what patients would like to eat and/or drink is essential. Data on taste preferences in the immediate postoperative period is scarce, therefore this study investigated the taste preference of patients directly after surgery in the PACU. Methods: A prospective observational study in adult patients scheduled for elective surgery under general anaesthesia. Taste preference was our primary outcome, for which we used the Macronutrient and Taste Preference Ranking Task (MTPRT) questionnaire. As secondary outcomes we asked additional questions to evaluate specific food characteristics separately, including consistency, texture, and temperature of food/drinks. Finally, we evaluated the appetite of our patients, using descriptive statistics, and analysing differences in the MTPRT liking scores. Results: We included 57 surgical patients. The MTPRT liking data showed that our patients liked low-energy products with a sweet taste the most. The MTPRT ranking data showed a dislike for high-protein products. Data from the additional questionnaire revealed that our patients seemed to like food products with soft, juicy, crispy, hot and cold characteristics. The majority of patients (n = 44, 79 %) did have an appetite for food directly after surgery during their PACU admission. Conclusion: This study showed that postoperative patients in the PACU tended to like low-energy food products with a sweet taste the most. In addition, this study showed that patients seemed to favour a broad variety of food products directly after surgery. Due to our small sample size the results should be interpreted with caution, but they do provide initial insights to help improve PACU food services, and thereby can contribute to enhance early postoperative oral intake. Registered at NTR (trialregister.nl) with study ID Trial NL9048.