The British journal of theatre nursing : NATNews : the official journal of the National Association of Theatre Nurses
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A recent report of the National Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths in children under the age of ten, looked to the problems of surgery and anaesthesia. The enquiry revealed that there must be changes in surgical practice since children need special skills and facilities, and to ensure that surgeons and anaesthetists do not undertake occasional paediatric experience. They advise that no trainee should undertake any anaesthetic or surgical operation on a child of any age without the express permission of his or her consultant. ⋯ The main deficiencies were failure to supervise junior staff, consultants not seeing patients before operations and general surgeons performing operations that should have been done by specialists. Surgeons used to be able to bury their mistakes. This is no longer the case because of the increasing number of reports which closely examine surgical deaths.
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Case Reports
Clinical risk management. Building provider awareness in the administration of anaesthesia.
The area of anaesthesia has long been the focus of risk management concerns. This article will address a case study based on some of the high risk issues. Although the environment in which anaesthesia is administered is usually a carefully controlled area, the anaesthetic agents and the patient's response to them can be unpredictable. ⋯ Tables 1 and 2 highlight the Risk Management areas to address in anaesthesia and Tables 3 and 4 the risk issues which have occurred from over 20 years experience in the USA. (MMI Companies Inc. 1993). Many of these issues will be discussed in the case study scenario. Further reading around the risk issues will also be suggested.