Awareness in retrieval medicine
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI
Published on: October 6, 2011
1NRMA Careflight, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Abstract:
Awareness is the spontaneous recall of an event(s) that occurred during general anaesthesia and surgery. The incidence of awareness is approximately 0.2% of cases where neuromuscular blockers are used and half that where they are omitted. The majority of data relating to awareness is from anaesthetic practice. We report a case of awareness associated with an out-of-hospital transportation of a critically ill patient requiring a medical escort (retrieval). We discuss the risk factors associated with awareness during retrieval, in particular the trend toward excessive administration of neuromuscular blockers, and the unique challenges for the prevention of awareness within the retrieval environment.
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