Quality & Safety In Anaesthesia / Edition 1

by Jonathan Secker-Walker

Overview

Audit was a buzz word of the late '80s and early '90s, but in anaesthetic practice the important issues are quality of service and safety of the patient and audit is used to monitor and agree standards for these two.
With contributions from leading figures in anaesthetic audit, "Quality and Safety in Anaesthesia" describes the important work already done and addresses vital aspects such as risk management, resource management, standards and postgraduate training, critical incidents and human error, use of computers, design of equipment for safety and managing a department of anaesthesia.
This book relates the process of quality assurance to the drive to improve the quality of anaesthetic practice. It should be useful for all those working or thinking about working in anaesthetic departments, and will be revealing to all those with an interest in quality and audit.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727908285
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	05/09/1994
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.55(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Secker-Walker is the author of Quality & Safety In Anaesthesia, published by Wiley.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Philip D. Ogden, MD (University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine)
Description: This small paperback volume explains the necessity of quality assurance in the anesthesia department and gives general guidelines on creating a systematic total quality management (TQM) program.
Purpose: The authors intend to show how review of a department's practice by its own members, and subsequent changes in that practice, can be made for the benefit of patients' safety. This concept of TQM, common in industry, is being applied more and more often in medicine, and, as the authors demonstrate, also helps in resource management (i.e., cost reduction) as well as quality improvement.
Audience: The book is written for practicing anesthesiologists who are faced with the challenge of instituting a departmental program of quality assurance, particularly within the U.K. according to the dictates of the National Health Service. Nevertheless, the philosophy of TQM and many of the author's guidelines are easily adaptable to U.S. departments and training programs.
Features: The book consists of 11 self-contained chapters, but can easily be read in its entirety in one sitting. Illustrations are few, consisting mainly of simple diagrams and tables. Several boxes set apart from the text emphasize certain highlights within each chapter. References are current, but the subject of quality management in anesthesia was scarcely addressed in medical literature prior to the last 10 years. Information being generated now and in the near future may eclipse many of the references here.
Assessment: Total quality management in medicine is in its infancy, but is perhaps most easily adaptable to departments of anesthesia because of a history of specialty-wide standards in equipment and recordkeeping, in addition to standards of training (board certification) found in all specialties. The book is short on the philosophy of TQM, but that subject is more adequately covered elsewhere, though usually in business literature. It is also short on details of quality management in anesthesia, particularly outside the U.K., but there is little experience to draw upon at this time. Economic and political forces are rapidly changing that.

Doody's Review Service

This small paperback volume explains the necessity of quality assurance in the anesthesia department and gives general guidelines on creating a systematic total quality management (TQM) program. The authors intend to show how review of a department's practice by its own members, and subsequent changes in that practice, can be made for the benefit of patients' safety. This concept of TQM, common in industry, is being applied more and more often in medicine, and, as the authors demonstrate, also helps in resource management (i.e., cost reduction) as well as quality improvement. The book is written for practicing anesthesiologists who are faced with the challenge of instituting a departmental program of quality assurance, particularly within the U.K. according to the dictates of the National Health Service. Nevertheless, the philosophy of TQM and many of the author's guidelines are easily adaptable to U.S. departments and training programs. The book consists of 11 self-contained chapters, but can easily be read in its entirety in one sitting. Illustrations are few, consisting mainly of simple diagrams and tables. Several boxes set apart from the text emphasize certain highlights within each chapter. References are current, but the subject of quality management in anesthesia was scarcely addressed in medical literature prior to the last 10 years. Information being generated now and in the near future may eclipse many of the references here. Total quality management in medicine is in its infancy, but is perhaps most easily adaptable to departments of anesthesia because of a history of specialty-wide standards in equipment and recordkeeping, in addition to standards of training (boardcertification) found in all specialties. The book is short on the philosophy of TQM, but that subject is more adequately covered elsewhere, though usually in business literature. It is also short on details of quality management in anesthesia, particularly outside the U.K., but there is little experience to draw upon at this time. Economic and political forces are rapidly changing that.

Philip D. Ogden