title: Standardization of Anaesthesia Ready Time and reasons of delay in induction of anaesthesia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anaesthesia-Ready Time (ART) is the time taken by the anaesthetist to provide sufficient anaesthetic depth for start of surgery. Our aim was to set benchmark timings for ART and compare it with our current practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Benchmark ART time of 15 minutes was set for American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I and II patients, 30 minutes for ASA III and IV patients, 20 minutes for spinal and 30 minutes for epidural anaesthesia. An additional 15 minutes was added for each invasive procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred elective cases were audited. Seventy eight percent of the cases were within benchmark timings. The main causes of delay included undergraduate students performing procedures (24.6%), teaching invasive lines to postgraduates (21.3%) and paediatric patients (16.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The introduction of benchmark timings and its regular auditing can help standardize operating room booking time and reducing patient cost.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia, Aga Khan University, Karachi.
authors.forename: Saeed U
authors.initials: SU
authors.lastname: Zafar
authors.forename: Fauzia Anees
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Mueenullah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D000762:Anesthesia Recovery Period; D000768:Anesthesia, General / Q000592:standards*; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013997:Time Factors