Anesthesia Quality Improvement: Current State and Future Opportunities

Abstract

Continuous improvement of quality and safety is a professional obligation of anesthesiologists and an ongoing activity of all academic departments and private practices. Quality improvement is an infinite process that is never fully complete but that instead evolves over time in response to emerging threats to patient safety from new medications, new surgical procedures, and increased recognition of systematic threats. This review discusses current definitions and thinking in anesthesia quality improvement, outlines recommended efforts at the local department level, and makes suggestions for the projects and activities most likely to benefit the anesthesia patients and clinicians of the future.