International anesthesiology clinics
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While adverse outcomes linked to anesthesia are uncommon in healthy patients, they do occasionally happen. There is rarely a single cause. Anesthesia and surgery bring the patient into a complex world in which innumerable small failings can converge to produce an eventual catastrophe. ⋯ Sometimes these errors are due to faulty vigilance or incompetence, but usually they are made by appropriately trained, competent practitioners. Anesthesiologists can err in many ways, and recognizing these ways makes it easier to analyze the events leading to an anesthetic accident. More importantly, it better equips us to eliminate or minimize them in the future--and this is the real challenge.
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By taking an organized approach to problem-solving in the PACU, as part of an overall hospital-mandated quality assurance program, PACU staff can increase patient safety, reduce risk, and improve the quality of care.