Inadequate preanesthesia equipment checks in a simulator

Purpose: To assess how completely anesthesiologists check their machinery a nd equipment before use, and to determine what influence seniority age and type of practice may have on checking practices. Methods: One hundred and twenty anesthesiologists were videotaped during a simulated anesthesia session. Each participant was scored by an assessor ac cording to the number of items checked prior to the induction of anesthesia . A checklist of 20 items derived from well-publicized, international stand ards was used. Results: Participants were grouped according to their type of practice. Ove rall, mean scores were low. The ideal score was 20. There were no differenc es among university anesthesiologists (mean score 10, 1, standard deviation 4.3), community anesthesiologists (7.5 +/- 4.3) and anesthesia residents ( 9.0 +/- 3.8), Each of these groups scored, on average, better than medical students (3.6 +/- 3.7) (P < 0.05). Neither age (r = 0.15, P > 0.1) nor numb er of years in practice (r = -0.18, P > 0.1) correlated with score. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the equipment-checking practices of an esthesiologists require considerable improvement when compared with nationa l and international standards. Possible reasons for this are discussed and some remedial suggestions are made.