Anaesthetists' attitudes towards awareness and depth-of-anaesthesia monitoring.
Advances in technology have resulted in the development of several depth-of-anaesthesia monitors. Whether any of these monitors can reduce the incidence of awareness is an important issue for anaesthetists and their patients. We therefore surveyed a random selection of anaesthetists, asking for their opinions of awareness and depth-of-anaesthesia monitoring in current clinical practice. Approximately half (52%) of the anaesthetists surveyed had experienced a patient with awareness. Anaesthetists considered that they had a lower incidence of awareness in their own practice when compared with others, 1:5000 vs. 1:10 000 (p < 0.001). Anaesthetists rated awareness on an 11-point scale as only a moderate problem, median (interquartile range) 5 (2-7). Older anaesthetists were less likely to rate the importance of awareness highly (p = 0.009) and to use awareness monitoring (p = 0.001). Anaesthetists are prepared to use depth-of-anaesthesia monitoring more widely if it can be shown to prevent most cases of awareness in routine practice.
Myles
P S
PS
Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Management, Alfred Hospital, P.O. Box 315, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
Symons
J A
JA
Leslie
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000768:Anesthesia, General; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative / Q000523:psychology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires