Key result
Editorial urges national safety auditing and monitoring to reduce pediatric anesthesia risks in South Africa.
Why the study?
Assessing risk in paediatric anaesthesia is complex and depends on multiple perspectives including patient safety, medication choices, and provider qualifications.
The definition of risk is “the chance or possibility of danger, loss or injury”. .1 Assessing risk in paediatric anaesthesia depends on the angle from which the problem is approached: the patients and their parents, doctors, hospital managers, policy makers or insurance companies. For the child (the patient), the risks involve a variety of factors, including the medication choices that the anaesthetist makes, the potential for neurodegeneration (high on the risk list for neonates and infants), whether the anaesthetist is satisfactorily qualified and experienced to provide adequate perioperative care so that the infant wakes up safely, and monitoring of the operation in accordance with local and international safety standards of care.
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Jennifer Thomas (2012) conducted an editorial in Pediatric anesthesia risks and safety. This editorial highlights the inherent risks of pediatric anesthesia and emphasizes the need for a national culture of safety, auditing, and monitoring to improve outcomes in South Africa.
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