• J J Pandit, J Andrade, D G Bogod, J M Hitchman, W R Jonker, N Lucas, J H Mackay, A F Nimmo, K O'Connor, E P O'Sullivan, R G Paul, J H MacG Palmer, F Plaat, J J Radcliffe, M R J Sury, H E Torevell, M Wang, T M Cook, Royal College of Anaesthetists, and Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland.
• Nuffield Department of Anaesthetics, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford, UK jaideep.pandit@dpag.ox.ac.uk.
• Br J Anaesth. 2014 Oct 1;113(4):540-8.

BackgroundAccidental awareness during general anaesthesia (AAGA) with recall is a potentially distressing complication of general anaesthesia that can lead to psychological harm. The 5th National Audit Project (NAP5) was designed to investigate the reported incidence, predisposing factors, causality, and impact of accidental awareness.MethodsA nationwide network of local co-ordinators across all the UK and Irish public hospitals reported all new patient reports of accidental awareness to a central database, using a system of monthly anonymized reporting over a calendar year. The database collected the details of the reported event, anaesthetic and surgical technique, and any sequelae. These reports were categorized into main types by a multidisciplinary panel, using a formalized process of analysis.ResultsThe main categories of accidental awareness were: certain or probable; possible; during sedation; on or from the intensive care unit; could not be determined; unlikely; drug errors; and statement only. The degree of evidence to support the categorization was also defined for each report. Patient experience and sequelae were categorized using current tools or modifications of such.ConclusionsThe NAP5 methodology may be used to assess new reports of AAGA in a standardized manner, especially for the development of an ongoing database of case reporting. This paper is a shortened version describing the protocols, methods, and data analysis from NAP5--the full report can be found at http://www.nationalauditprojects.org.uk/NAP5_home.© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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