Chapter 28
- Patient Positioning
- Ronald J. Faust
- Roy F. Cucchiara
- Perry S. Bechtle
Like much else in anesthesia, positioning is expected to be always
perfect, and any complications that arise as a result of it are met with surprise
and concern. The goal of positioning is to facilitate the performance of the surgical
procedure by the surgeon while ensuring that the position is physiologically safe
for the anesthetized patient. In most practices, the surgeon and anesthesiologist
work together to put the anesthetized patient into as ideal a position as safely
as possible after induction of anesthesia. The importance of positioning is underscored
by the fact that nerve damage is the second most common type of anesthetic complication
represented in the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Closed Claims Database.
However, there is a paucity of data confirming that positioning interventions affect
outcome.
