Anaesthetic Record Cards

An obstetric anaesthetic record card.

ANAESTHETIC records, it has been stated, may not only constitute an immediate distraction to an anaesthetist, but are of little use thereafter, for retrospective examination may fail to reveal some vital detail. These objections are not valid when the records to be kept are simplified, systematically completed and filed, and methodically planned for the purpose of some preconceived investigation.

Does manual anaesthetic record capture remove clinically important data?

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have shown smoothing and inaccuracies in handwritten anaesthetic records, but the clinical relevance of these findings is unclear. We therefore sought to determine whether the behaviour of anaesthetists differed in assessing anaesthetic records re-synthesized from either handwritten or automated records. METHODS In a recent New Zealand study (ACTRN12608000068369), ...

Feasibility and usefulness of family record cards in general practice.

In order to determine the feasibility of family record cards in general practice a research secretary created cards for 1825 households from a practice of 10 600 patients. The capital cost was pound108 and the time taken by the secretary was 1638 hours, which is equivalent to a wage of pound1330 for a maximum grade secretary, assuming a 70% rebate paid by the family practitioner committee. Appr...

A case made for automated anaesthetic record keeping.

A single-sheet combined anaesthetic record and consent form.

In 1932 Tovell and Dunn described the use of anaesthetic records at the Mayo Clinic. The method employed was based on the Hollerith punch-card for use with a sorting and tabulating machine. This punch-card system gained wide popularity in the United States and was adopted by the American Society of Anesthetists in 1937 (Saklad, 1940). In the same year Nosworthy complained that the practice of k...