Improving anesthesia safety: a human factors approach to feedback and system constraints

The purpose of this article is to discuss a structured approach to medication safety strategies for anesthesia.

The unique way that anesthesiologists interact with medications presents both vulnerabilities and opportunities to address medication safety. Much of the historical progress in anesthesia safety has involved the design of the anesthesia machine and airway management tools, while the medication delivery workflow has been largely unchanged. Using lessons from the anesthesia machine, human factors engineering, and design, there is an opportunity to make anesthesia medication handling safer.

Deconstructing the anesthesia medication workflow with a failure mode and effects analysis and strategically employing constraints, automation, and simplification can yield additional safety gains for anesthesia.