Perioperative Complications and Critical Incidents During Anesthesia in a Surgical Neonate

Abstract

Anesthesia is a complex dynamic system with interaction between human (anesthesiologist, patient), machine (anesthesia machine, monitors, other equipment), and environment (surgeons, nurses, staff, operating room, hospital). Breach in any component of this system can be a cause of adverse events or critical incidents (CI), harmful to the patient. These incidents happen all the time, in all medical specialties, in all age range of patients, undergoing any form of treatment. The outcome of these incidents depends on the severity of the event, how rapidly it is detected, and how efficiently it is managed. They may be related to almost any system in the body, with a wide range of outcomes, from transient damage to prolonged hospital stay and even death. But when they occur during anesthesia, implications become different, and the whole onus comes on the anesthesiologist. Hence, anesthesiologist must be aware these complications or critical incidents, their identification and management, and more so their anticipation and prevention.