Longnecker's Anesthesiology > Part 1. The Specialty of Anesthesiology > Chapter 3. Safety and Quality: The Guiding Principles of Patient-Centered Care Jeffrey B. Cooper, PhD, and David Longnecker, MD, FRCA

Key Points

"1. The patient should be the center focus of anesthesia care.

2. The goal of anesthesia care must be to ensure that no patient is harmed.

3. Preventing harm is challenging because care is complex, serious adverse events are relatively rare and almost always the result of many causes rather than a single one.

4. Serious adverse events are usually the result of weaknesses in the "system" of anesthesia care, not the fault of incompetent clinicians.

5. To prevent adverse events, a strategy is needed, not simply vigilance.

6. Organizations, departments, and groups must employ a top-down approach and a commitment to creating a safe environment and system for safety.

7. Safety must be the number 1 organizational priority to create an organization that operates at the highest level of reliability.

8. Anesthesia professionals must employ a broad array of safety tactics.

9. Teamwork and communication among the perioperative caregivers are critical components of patient safety.

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