December 2001

Research Grant Applications Solicited by APSF

December 10, 2001

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation announces the deadline of June 17, 2002, for receipt of applications for research grants to start January 1, 2003. Note: grants are limited to the...

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Legal Implications of Automated Records

December 10, 2001

To the Editor In the Summer 2001 APSF Newsletter several authors discussed an automated anesthesia record keeper. Many anesthesiologists will receive this concept with trepidation because of concerns unrelated to...

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Potential Hazard of Locked Cart

December 10, 2001

To the Editor I want to echo the comments of Martin Bogetz, MD, in the Summer 2001 APSF Newsletter. Our hospital is involved in a pharmacy-initiated trial of an anesthesia...

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FDA Issues Box Warning for Droperidol – Arrythmia Concerns Cited

December 10, 2001

The FDA has recently received reports of deaths associated with QT prolongation and torsades de pointes in patients who had received droperidol. While it has been long known that droperidol...

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ASA Meeting Exhibits Highlight Patient Safety

December 10, 2001

Patient safety was again the focus of many scientific and education exhibits on display at the 2001 ASA Annual Meeting held in New Orleans in October. The APSF’s Ellison C....

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ASA Postoperative Visual Loss (POVL) Registry

December 10, 2001

Awakening from spinal or cardiac surgery with partial or complete blindness is a devastating event. The etiology of this catastrophic perioperative complication remains largely unknown, yet its incidence appears to...

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South Carolina Task Force Targets Office Anesthesia Safety

December 10, 2001

With patient safety as a prime driving force, in February of 2000, the South Carolina Medical Association and the South Carolina Board of Medicine formed a task force to propose...

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APSF Initiates Capital Campaign for Ellison C. Pierce Research Award

December 10, 2001

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation is currently embarking on a capital campaign to establish an annual Ellison C. Pierce Jr., MD, Research Award, the proceeds of which will fund a...

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Mock Mortality and Morbidity Conferences Demonstrate Importance Of Automated Recordkeeping for Incident and Root Cause Analyses

December 10, 2001

Two mock mortality and morbidity (M&M) conferences were the basis for a lively, controversial discussion about electronic record keeping, use of video recording in operating rooms, and new approaches to...

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Thank You to AstraZeneca and Graphic Arts Services

December 10, 2001

The APSF Newsletter continues to owe a debt of gratitude for the continued support of AstraZeneca, Pharmaceuticals LP. The contributions of AstraZeneca have been and continue to be tremendously important...

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APSF Newsletter Installs New Editor

December 10, 2001

After 16 years at the helm of this publication, the founding Editor of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Newsletter, John H. Eichhorn, MD, is turning over the editorial pencils and...

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APSF President Reports on the State of the Foundation

December 10, 2001

As President of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), it is my privilege to report annually on the activities of the APSF during the calendar year. In that regard, I...

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APSF Endorses Use of Automated Record Keepers

December 10, 2001

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation initiative on perioperative data management took a major step forward when, at the American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting in New Orleans in October 2001,...

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ASA Scientific Papers Emphasize Patient Safety

December 10, 2001

Over 1,300 scientific abstracts were presented at this year’s American Society of Anesthesiologists Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Nearly 100 of these abstracts presented data directly related to patient safety....

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September 2001

JCAHO Revises Standards to Help Reduce Medical Errors

September 10, 2001

Effective July 1, 2001, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) published new language recognizing that "effective medical/health care error reduction requires an integrated and coordinated approach."...

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Sedation by Non-Anesthesia Personnel Provokes Safety Concerns; Anesthesiologists Must Balance JCAHO Standards, Politics, & Safety

September 10, 2001

Sedation administered by non-anesthesiologists not only is exploding in frequency and complexity, but also has become, in certain respects, by JCAHO mandate, the responsibility of a facility’s anesthesiologists to organize,...

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“Operation a Success… But the Wrong Organ Was Removed”

September 10, 2001

(Reprinted with permission from NYSSA SPHERE, April-June, 2001) Dr. Freese and I recently completed service on the Preoperative Protocols Panel at the invitation of Dr. Antonia Novello, New York State...

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The ICU Corner: Safety Practices Target ICU Patients

September 10, 2001

Note: Welcome to the “ICU Corner.” This recurring section of the APSF Newsletter will strive to keep anesthesiologists abreast of current issues, insights, concerns, technology, and controversies relevant to the...

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Cardiac Arrests During Spinal Anesthesia: Review of Persisting Problem

September 10, 2001

In 1988, Caplan et al. reported 14 unexplained cardiac arrests during spinal anesthesia and, recognizing that hypovolemia played an important role, they suggested that ‘”prompt augmentation of central venous filling...

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Special Article: How Many Medical Error Deaths Are There Really? Noted Expert Critiques Conflicting Study Reports

September 10, 2001

Noted Expert Critiques Conflicting Study Reports When the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report “To Err is Human” was released in November 19991, the shocking figures that 44,000-98,000 patients die annually...

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