Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Sep 2012
A survey of anaesthetists' understanding of Australian mandatory reporting laws.
Australian mandatory reporting laws for healthcare practitioners were introduced nationally in July 2010. We distributed an online survey to specialist anaesthetists and anaesthesia trainees in our institution with the aim of assessing anaesthetists' awareness, understanding and interpretation of the new laws. One hundred and three completed responses were received (response rate 67%). ⋯ Some anaesthetists believed the laws would deter them from seeking medical help themselves if they were impaired (39%). Mandatory reporting laws aim to improve patient safety while being fair to doctors who are reported and protecting those who report. Our survey indicates that there are differences among anaesthetists about the type of conduct they would report and their perception of the consequences of making a report.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Sep 2012
Mediated interruptions of anaesthesia providers using predictions of workload from anaesthesia information management system data.
Perioperative interruptions generated electronically from anaesthesia information management systems (AIMS) can provide useful feedback, but may adversely affect task performance if distractions occur at inopportune moments. Ideally such interruptions would occur only at times when their impact would be minimal. In this study of AIMS data, we evaluated the times of comments, drugs, fluids and periodic assessments (e.g. electrocardiogram diagnosis and train-of-four) to develop recommendations for the timing of interruptions during the intraoperative period. ⋯ Timing was minimally affected by the type of anaesthesia, surgical facility, surgical service, prone positioning or scheduled case duration. The implication of our results is that for mediated interruptions, waiting at least 13 minutes after the start of surgery is appropriate. Although we used AIMS data, operating room information system data is also suitable.