Page 24 - 2022 Risk Basics - Anesthesiology

SVMIC Risk Basics: Anesthesiology

complications with the possibility of death or permanent brain

damage. Difficult airways were encountered on induction in 67
percent of cases, during surgery in 15 percent of cases, on

extubation in 12 percent, and in 5 percent of cases during

recovery. It is important to mention that death and permanent
9
brain damage from difficult intubation at induction of

anesthesia has declined since the adoption of the ASA
practice guidelines for management of difficult airway.

Dental injuries remain one of the most frequently encountered

adverse events in anesthesia. Performing and documenting a

dental exam and including dental injury as an identified risk in
your informed consent discussion may be effective in

mitigating the exposure. This process can be especially
important with patients who have had cosmetic dentistry

procedures.

Anesthesia records are, by necessity, abbreviated and concise.
That leaves little room for legible, detailed descriptions of

unusual events. If something out of the ordinary happens that
requires more room for adequate documentation, a

supplemental narrative can be useful as an addition to the

anesthesia records. If you are ever called upon to defend your
care and treatment, it is better to have a record that reads

“narrow complex bradyarrhythmia unresponsive to atropine”

than one that says, “patient coded, resuscitation performed”.
The care of the patient always comes first, but you should write

9 http://anesthesiology.pubs.asahq.org/article.aspx?articleid=1942519

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