Non-operating Room Anesthesia: The Principles of Patient Assessment and Preparation

A significant number of anesthetics are performed outside of the operating room (OR). Despite the increased requirement for anesthesia services, the framework to perform the necessary preprocedural anesthesia assessments to optimize patients has not been uniformly developed. Performing anesthesia in non-OR locations poses significant and distinct challenges compared with the procedures in the OR. Anesthesiologists are faced with patients with increasingly complicated comorbidities undergoing novel, complex interventional procedures. With unique training in preoperative triaging, and an expertise in intraoperative and postoperative management of complex patients, anesthesiologists can contribute to greater efficiency and patient safety in the non-OR setting.