How often do you draw the line?

[Mully]

A few questions.

I've read stories of times when the anesthesia provider will cancle or reschedule a surgery based on patient conditions. I'm curious as to how often a situation like this occurs. And I guess I'm wondering, at the end of the day, who is the one responsible for the patient, anesthesia or surgery? Who makes the final call?

I understand and trust that everyone is there for the patient safety, but when there is a discrepency about how to procede, how does the hierarchy fall? And if anesthesia really does cancle surgeries autonomously, how often does this actually occur?

Much appreciated.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

anesthesia does not cancel cases, they just cancel the anesthetic, if the patient has a comorbidity that will make the anesthetic unsafe or endanger the patient then anesthesia does not have to do the case. It is no diffirent then is a surgeon does not feel a patient is good enough for surgery, not like anesthesia can make them do it.

In my facility, Anesthesia DOES cancel the case. In my facility, surgeons are notoriously cavalier about their patient's general health and readiness for anesthesia and the procedure.

If Anesthesia cancels, the case is cancelled. And it happens routinely, 2-4 times weekly.

[skipaway]

Also, the anesthesiologist monitors how long the patient has been "under" and will hurry the surgeons along...

In the 19 years I've been practicing anesthesia, I've never "hurried the surgeon along." I am not a surgeon and cannot and will not tell them how to do their job and they do not tell me how to do my anesthetic. We provide anesthesia for as long as necessary. We certainly communicate a patient's status to the surgeon and if that makes them finish sooner rather than later, that's the surgeon's decision, not ours.