Anaesthetic emergencies
Modern anaesthetic drugs are safer than older agents, but none are totally safe and emergency situations can and do arise. Field anaesthetists must be trained in identifying and correcting at least the most common problems. Few anaesthetic emergencies are sudden in onset and rigorous monitoring of vital signs during anaesthesia is the key to early detection of problems and timely corrective action. Prevention is always better than cure.
In all anaesthetic emergency situations demanding resuscitation, the actions required should follow a disciplined pattern or ABCD approach (see below). Once faced with complete respiratory and circulatory failure (cardiopulmonary failure), restoring life is exceedingly difficult. Six types of anaesthetic emergency are detailed below: respiratory failure, heart failure, hyperthermia, hypothermia, shock and seizures. There are others but they are outside the scope of this document.