Volume 12, No. 2 • Summer 1997

U.K. Group Issues More Safety Guidelines

Ellison C. Pierce, Jr., M.D.

Additional topics within clinical anesthesia practice have become the subject of guidelines issued by the leading U.K. organization of anesthesiologists.

The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland have, for approximately the last decade, published and distributed a number of booklets on issues of safety matters for use by members of that society. The first one was entitled “Recommendations for Standards of Monitoring During Anaesthesia and Recovery” and was last revised in 1994. Recent volumes have included: “Surgery and General Anaesthesia in General Practice Premises,” 1995 [directly relevant to the current U.S. debate about “office anesthesia”], “Controlled Drugs,” 1995, and “Recommendations for the Transfer of Patients with Acute Head Injuries to Neurosurgical Units,” 1996.

The most recent one received considerable attention some months ago and information was sought on how to have it available to American anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists. The response was that it may be read and downloaded from the Association web site (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nanaes/aagbi.html).

I recommend that all of you who are interested in these excellent publications download them for your personal use. Ellison C. Pierce, Jr., M.D. President, APSF