Where cardiac surgery is scheduled to occur immediately after caesarean section, there should be early involvement of obstetricians, specialist obstetric anaesthetists, neonatal paediatricians and midwifery services.
Departments should consider providing all newly appointed consultants or autonomously practising anaesthetists, particularly those with limited experience, with a mentor to facilitate their development in cardiac anaesthesia.
Where thoracic surgery is scheduled to occur immediately after Caesarean section, there should be early involvement of obstetricians, specialist obstetric anaesthetists, neonatal paediatricians and midwifery services.
Departments should consider providing all newly appointed consultants or autonomously practising anaesthetists, particularly those with limited experience, with a mentor to facilitate their development in thoracic anaesthesia.
The supervising anaesthetist should be easily contactable and should be available to attend within minutes of being requested by the AAs.118
Hospitals should consider appointing a lead anaesthetist for diabetes with appropriate time for the role identified in their job plan.268
Training of anaesthetists includes attaining the competency to perform medical assessment of patients prior to anaesthesia and surgery or other procedures.274
The preassessment clinic should be predominantly led by suitably trained nurses or other extended role practitioners using agreed protocols and with support from an anaesthetist.
Decision support systems for crisis scenarios should be available, for example the Association of Anaesthetists Quick Reference Handbook.110
In single specialty centres, the anaesthetic department should adopt the generic standards described throughout GPAS. This should include a lead paediatric anaesthetist if children are treated.
