A Survey of the Practice of Anesthesiology in the U.S.??? 1972

During the calendar year 1972, 46 hospitals throughout the U.S.A. participated in a survey of their anesthesia practices, using simple criteria from the "Standards of Patient Care in Anesthesiology." Eight "yes-no" questions were asked: 1. Was there written evidence of a preanesthetic evaluation by a physician? 2. Was there use of an anesthesia record? 3. Was there participation by a physician other than the surgeon in administration of anesthesia? 4. Was general anesthesia used? 5. Was the dosage or amount of anesthetic agent used during anesthesia recorded? 6. Was there evidence of postanesthesia surveillance in a recovery room? 7. Was there an identifiable postanesthesia note? 8. Did the patient live? Data from 208,868 anesthetic procedures indicated an overall mortality rate of 1.1 percent. Although affirmative responses in excess of 73 percent were noted to each condition of practice, only 50.9 percent of the cases received such a response to all five practice criteria; that is, questions 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. A sample survey of data indicated a comparatively similar standard of practice between simple and complex operative cases.