Inadequate preanesthesia equipment checks in a simulator.
OBJECTIVE
To assess how completely anesthesiologists check their machinery and equipment before use, and to determine what influence seniority, age and type of practice may have on checking practices.


METHODS
One hundred and twenty anesthesiologists were videotaped during a simulated anesthesia session. Each participant was scored by an assessor according to the number of items checked prior to the induction of anesthesia. A checklist of 20 items derived from well-publicized, international standards was used.


RESULTS
Participants were grouped according to their type of practice. Overall, mean scores were low. The ideal score was 20. There were no differences among university anesthesiologists (mean score 10.1, standard deviation 4.3), community anesthesiologists (7.5 +/- 4.3) and anesthesia residents (9.0 +/- 3.8). Each of these groups scored, on average, better than medical students (3.6 +/- 3.7) (P < 0.05). Neither age (r = 0.15, P > 0.1) nor number of years in practice (r = -0.18, P > 0.1) correlated with score.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that the equipment-checking practices of anesthesiologists require considerable improvement when compared with national and international standards. Possible reasons for this are discussed and some remedial suggestions are made.
Armstrong-Brown
A
A
Department of Anaesthesia, Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Devitt
J H
JH
Kurrek
M
M
Cohen
M
M
D000776:Anesthesiology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans