Medication Safety during Anesthesia and the Perioperative Period

Alan Merry is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland. Joyce Wahr is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Vice-Chair for Quality and Safety in the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota.

'a valuable contribution to the medical literature … This book will highlight important concepts in the prevention of medication errors and will definitely help the patients of those who read it.' Robert R. Gaiser, Yale School of Medicine

• 1. Introduction to Medication Safety in Anesthesia and the Perioperative Period; 2. Frequency and Nature of Failures in Medication Safety during Anesthesia and the Perioperative Period; 3. Frequency and Nature of Failures in Medication Safety in the Intensive Care Unit and Ward; 4. Impact of Medication Errors on the Patient and Family: Managing the Aftermath; 5. Consequences for the Practitioner; 6. Why Failures Occur in the Safe Management of Medications; 7. Errors in the Context of the Perioperative Administration of Medications; 8. Violations and Medication Safety; 9. Interventions to Improve Medication Safety; 10. Medication Safety in Special Contexts; 11. Legal and Regulatory Responses to Avoidable Adverse Medication Events in Anesthesia and the Perioperative Period Part I: General Principles; 12. Appropriate Legal and Regulatory Responses to Avoidable Adverse Medication Events in Anesthesia and the Perioperative Period Part II: Practical Examples; 13. Barriers to Improving Medication Safety: Why is Patient Safety So Hard?; 14. Conclusions.