RECOVERY ROOM INCIDENTS

Abstract

Monitoring of patients in the recovery room is considered the most serious part for safe anesthesia. Anesthesiologists are some times so busy in completing the list of the operations so they can not follow up thoroughly their discharged patient from the theatre. This study determines the most common recovery room incidents in the last three years at AlSadir Teaching Hospital in Basrah. Of the about 7000 patients operated upon in this period, 669 patients (9.5%) had some event in the recovery room. The most common incident was respiratory problems (26%), irritability (22%), thermal (19%), cardiovascular (18%), nausea and vomiting (9%), low urine output (5%) and fall from couch (1%). Most of these incidents were treated immediately at the recovery room. The outcome was 5 deaths and 61 ICU admissions. Skilled anesthesia assistant present in the recovery room is the keystone for taking care and reducing recovery room incidents.z