Table 8 Anesthetists’ suggestions and comments for making anesthesia safer^a

Better availability of anesthetic equipment eg. anesthesia machine

Better availability of monitors, eg. carbon dioxide detector

Better salary

Better availability of resuscitative drugs and equipments

Timely repair of the equipment

Better availability of medical supplies eg. electrode patch for ECG

Theoretical and practical training

Comments

‘The two anesthesia machines in the operating room are used for a longtime, lack of maintenance and have serious air leak problem.’

‘We added isoflurane in the only sevoflurane vaporizer, which makes it hard to control the depth of anesthesia.’

‘With the help of the Internet, we are keen to learn the latest advances in anesthesiology, but because of the lack of equipment and training, our ability to progress was limited.’

‘One of the serious problems I have encountered is intraoperative awareness. This is a problem that may cause great trauma to patients. It is also a legal issue, but we have ignored it.’

‘In order to control medical expenses, we used the least amount of drugs and materials, which damages the safety of anesthesia.’

‘The process we use to dispense large bottles of medication to each patient can lead to contamination.’