The breakdown of anesthesia equipment survey

To assess the incidence and the causes of failures of anaesthesia machines. Prospective survey from August 1995 to September 1997. Check-list and machine failure forms. Failures of anaesthetic machines have been collected and entered into a database. Causes and treatment of each failure have been an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annales françaises d'anesthésie et de réanimation 1999-03, Vol.18 (3), p.303-308
Main Authors: Bourgain, J L, Baguenard, P, Puizillout, J M, Ankri, J C, Damia, E, Billard, V
Format: Article
Language:fre
Subjects:
Anesthesiology - instrumentation
Anesthesiology - statistics & numerical data
Electronics
Equipment Failure - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Intraoperative Period
Prospective Studies
Respiration, Artificial - instrumentation
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Summary:To assess the incidence and the causes of failures of anaesthesia machines. Prospective survey from August 1995 to September 1997. Check-list and machine failure forms. Failures of anaesthetic machines have been collected and entered into a database. Causes and treatment of each failure have been analysed. Of 5,096 foreseen forms, 3,926 (77%) have been completed after check-list or anaesthesia machine failure. Overall, 233 incidents have been declared (4.5%). Failures identified during the preoperative check-list (n = 96) were mainly related to mechanical problems, especially the gas proportioning device (35%). Perioperative failures (n = 137) were mostly related to electronic problems (ventilator: 27% and monitor: 57%). In more than half of the cases, a specially trained anaesthetic nurse was able to correct the failure in the operating theatre. Using 14 anaesthetic machines for 12 operating rooms, no procedure was cancelled because of a technical failure of a machine. This study emphasizes the value of the check-list and the failure report. The presence of a specially trained anaesthetic nurse allows immediate correction of the majority of technical problems.
ISSN:0750-7658