Patient Safety
Complications from anesthesia have declined dramatically over the last 25 years. Since 1970, the number of anesthesiologists has more than doubled and, at the same time and at virtually the same rate, patient outcomes have improved. In just the last decade, estimates for the risk of death attributed to anesthesia have dropped 25-fold from 1 in 10,000 anesthetics to 1 in 250,000 today. Indeed, the risk of a "routine" anesthetic is many times smaller than the risk of riding in a passenger car.
All this has occurred during a time when surgical procedures have become bigger and more invasive, the smallest of premature infants in neonatal units survives intricate, lifesaving procedures, and 100-year-old patients undergo and recover from major surgeries that were once thought to be impossible.
The foregoing material is excerpted and adapted from literature that is copyrighted by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The original material may be seen at this link.
Internal Staff Login