With some frequency I hear, “I don’t want to be put to sleep for surgery because I’m afraid I won’t wake up.” I have been heard to say, “If we can’t do this kind of surgery safely, we can’t do surgery.” I try to put this into perspective with the fact that healthy people who drive cars are engaging in a statistically more dangerous activity than having surgery. Cars crash and often it is no fault of the driver – it is sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Believe me, I know what it is like for a control person to have to give up the illusion of control. I have had surgery a few times and my instruction to the anesthesiologist is always, “Don’t do me any ‘favors’ – treat me just like everyone else.” The thing is – we have multiple safety systems and checklists – like airline pilots – to make sure that everything is being done consistently and safely. It is when we make exceptions to the rules that things become more unpredictable. We are always trying to improve the way that we do things and we endorse continued quality improvement. We actively adopt a “best practice” approach because we want to be the best and the safest. We simply can’t take the chance of having a crash. The death of Kanye West’s mother in California highlighted some concerns for a lot of patients. Even before that tragic and perhaps preventable event – we had required that patients get a pre-surgical history and physical. Yes, it is a hassle – but if it prevents or recognizes potential problems – like they sometime do – then it becomes a necessity. Don’t even get me started on the list of things that went wrong with the Michael Jackson debacle.
Safety is the reason we use a board certified anesthesiologist and monitors. Safety is why we maintain our board certification status. We are in the process of renewing our AAAASF accreditation status – and it is a major paperwork hassle – but again – the system is set up to prevent problems. So if all of these steps and systems improve patient safety – then bring on the paperwork. We want you to have the safest nap possible.
Tags: Anesthesiology, Board certified
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