Quality & Safety In Anaesthesia

Audit was a buzz word of the late '80s and early '90s, but in anaesthetic practice the important issues are quality of service and safety of the patient and audit is used to monitor and agree standards for these two. With contributions from leading figures in anaesthetic audit, "Quality and Safety in Anaesthesia" describes the important work already done and addresses vital aspects such as risk management, resource management, standards and postgraduate training, critical incidents and human error, use of computers, design of equipment for safety and managing a department of anaesthesia. This book relates the process of quality assurance to the drive to improve the quality of anaesthetic practice. It should be useful for all those working or thinking about working in anaesthetic departments, and will be revealing to all those with an interest in quality and audit.

Foreword vii PROFESSOR ALASTAIR SPENCE Preface ix 1 Quality and the management of risk 1 J SECKER WALKER, Senior Lecturer, Unversity College London Medical School, Medical Adviser, Quality and Risk Management Ltd, Merrett Health Risk Management Lid 2 National quality studies in anaesthesia 18 JOHN N LUNN, Reader in Anaesthesia, University of Wales College of Medicine, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff 3 Standards and postgraduate traming 27 ANTHONY P ADAMS, Professor of Anaesthesia, Guy's Hospital, London 4 Medical audit and resource management in anaesthest 48 A GH CoLE, Consultant Anaesthetist, Glenfield General Hospital, Leicester 5 Quality in medical audit 65 NANCY DIxON, Consultant in Health Care Quality, Healtheare Quality Quest Lid, Romsey, Hampshire 6 Psychology and safety in arration 87 J CHAPPELOW, Principal Psychologist, RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine, Farnborough, Hampshire 7 Critical incidents in anaesthesia 105 M CLARE DERRINGTON, Consultant Anaesthetist, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester 8 Computers and medical audit 129 MICHAEL F FISHER, Consultant Anaestherist, King's College Hospital, London