Do Physicians Comply With Anesthesia Monitoring Standards: 10 Stats From PPAHS

Rachel Fields -

Here are 10 statistics from a recent survey on American Society of Anesthesiologist standards and Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation recommendations and standards, conducted by the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety.

Note: The ASA Standards were updated in Oct. 2010 to require providers to evaluate adequacy of ventilation during deep or moderate sedation through observation of clinical signs and monitoring of the presence of exhaled carbon dioxide. The APSF recently released recommendations on electronic monitoring strategies to detect drug-induced post-op respiratory depression, saying continuous electronic monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation should be available and considered for all patients.   

1. 66% of providers said they would "completely" describe their medical practices to be in accordance with ASA standards. 26% of providers said they "mostly" would and 7% said they "partially" would.

2. 85% of providers feel it would help to have a safety checklist to improve compliance with ASA Standards.

3. 58% of providers think they would benefit from recommendations on the equipment to be used to meet ASA Standards.

4. 45% of providers think it would help to receive training or certification on ASA Standards.

5. 83% of providers believe that clinically significant drug-induced respiratory depression in the post-op period is still a significant safety risk associated with morbidity and mortality.

6. 84% of proivders believe intermittent "spot checks" of oxygenation and ventilation are enough to reliably recognize clinically significant evolving drug-induced respiratory depression in the post-op period.

7. 90% of providers said continuous electronic monitoring of oxygen and ventilation should be available and considered for all patients.

8. Major impediments to continuous monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation identified by respondents are as follows:

• Initial investment cost for existing technology: 65.7%
• Existing technology is not practical: 19.4%
• Caregivers fail to recognize the risk of drug-induced depression of ventilation: 61%

9. 22% of providers felt safety checklists including APSF recommendations posed a challenge to continuous monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation.

10. 35% of providers felt there was an absence of evidence-based data to support the value of electronic monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation.

Read the PPAHS survey on anesthesia standards.

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