There should be sufficient administrative staff and facilities to support all aspects of the anaesthesia service to enable it to perform its duties safely and efficiently.
The department should have a process in place to deal with ad-hoc patient queries about their treatment. Patients should be advised how to access this process.122
Departments should have reliable access to wi-fi, in clinical areas to ensure checklists, standard operating procedures, national guidelines and other electronic systems can be securely accessed by computers and other handheld electronic devices.
Information systems should allow for regular reporting and locally customised reporting tools to support QI work.
Information from the patient’s preoperative assessment should be readily available, ideally as part of an electronic patient record so that information is easy to transfer between locations and to enable data collection for later analysis.
Facilities to allow access to online information, such as electronic patient records, local guidelines and clinical decision aids, should be provided in the theatre suite.
Equipment must be properly maintained and replaced in a timely and planned fashion.123
All staff should be provided with opportunities to familiarise themselves with all equipment by way of documented formal training sessions.
Departments should have processes in place to recognise and manage substance use disorder in an anaesthetist, providing support to the doctor involved.58
