Anesthesia Patient Safety Podcast

A single syringe swap should never decide a patient’s fate. We pull back the curtain on forty years of anesthesia medication safety to show what truly works—then tackle the hard part: getting proven safeguards into every OR, every time. From look-alike vial hazards to standardization that actually sticks, this conversation blends frontline realities with practical steps leaders can implement now....

Seconds define outcomes in the OR, and medication safety lives in those seconds. We take you inside four decades of work by the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation to show how our field shifted from relying on vigilance to building systems that make the right action the easy action. Along the way, guest contributor, Dr. Elizabeth Rebello, shares why standardization, technology, and culture are no...

Nausea shouldn’t be the most memorable part of surgery. We take a clear, evidence-based look at postoperative nausea and vomiting, from identifying who’s at risk to building smarter prophylaxis bundles and choosing the right rescue when prevention falls short. With guest insights from Dr. Connie Chung, we unpack the Fourth Consensus Guidelines, translate them into practical workflows, and explore...

Safety for children under anesthesia shouldn’t depend on luck or location. We walk through 100+ years of progress in pediatric anesthesia and focus on the next wave of innovations that can make first attempts safer, dosing smarter, and systems more reliable—especially for neonates and infants who face the highest risk. We start with the historical milestones that changed outcomes: pulse oximetry,...

A routine dental visit should never turn into a medical emergency. We sit down with Dr. Rita Agarwal, pediatric anesthesiologist and patient safety advocate, to unpack why dental anesthesia operates on a separate track from hospital-based care—and how that gap can put patients at risk. From the heartbreaking story of six-year-old Caleb Sears to the hard truths about monitoring requirements, staffi...

The fastest way to improve post-cesarean recovery is to start before the first incision—by setting expectations, testing the block, and validating what patients feel. We sit down with Dr. Ruth Landau, Virginia Apgar Professor and Chief of Obstetric Anesthesia at Columbia University, to map a safer path from the OR to the nursery: neuraxial-first analgesia, scheduled non-opioids, and small, truly P...

Anterior mediastinal masses make even seasoned anesthesiologists pause, and for good reason: a stable, upright patient can decompensate with a single change in position or a single dose of the wrong drug. We walk through a clear, stepwise approach that starts with anatomy and symptom red flags, then translates imaging, echocardiography, and pulmonary function testing into real-world decisions at t...

Ever walked into a new OR and spent the first ten minutes hunting for an airway bougie or a computer log-in that actually works? We dig into the hidden safety risks of a transient anesthesia workforce and share practical, fast-moving fixes that keep patients safe while keeping rooms open. With staffing shortages reshaping coverage models across the United States and beyond, locum clinicians are es...

Imagine stepping into an operating room where oxygen isn’t guaranteed, capnography is rare, and one anesthesiologist might serve a million people. That’s the reality many patients face, and it’s exactly where meaningful change can save the most lives. We sit down with Dr. Kelly McQueen, professor of anesthesiology and department chair at the University of Wisconsin, to explore what it takes to del...

What if the biggest risks in maternal care are not just clinical, but cultural? We dig into the hard truth that speaking up can feel risky, pain during cesarean is often underestimated, and rare obstetric crises can overwhelm memory. From there, we chart a path toward safer births with practical tools that any team can use: psychological safety to unlock communication, structured pre‑briefs and ra...

Power, control, and communication shape every birth—and too often, they decide whether care feels safe or traumatic. We dig into practical ways to prevent harm in obstetric anesthesia by centering trauma-informed care, reducing stigma around substance use disorder, and giving real choice during cesarean delivery. We start by distinguishing complications from trauma and laying out the six pillars t...

Maternal care is at a breaking point: delivering hospitals are disappearing while deaths that could be prevented keep climbing. We pull back the curtain on how structural racism, policy headwinds, and technology blind spots compound risk for birthing people—especially Black, Hispanic, rural, and low‑income patients—and what it takes to change the trajectory now. We start by naming the problem with...

Welcome back to our 2025 Stoelting Conference Podcast Series.  Fever isn’t the fail-safe it’s made out to be—especially in pregnancy. We walk through the subtle ways maternal sepsis hides in plain sight, why a quarter of those who died never had a fever, and how early warning tools, rapid antibiotics, and source control change the odds. From there, we pivot to maternal hemorrhage and show how quan...

Maternal safety changes when we stop relying on heroics and start building systems. We open the door to the 2025 APSF Stolting Conference series with a fast, practical tour of what truly reduces morbidity and mortality: collaboration across anesthesia, obstetrics, cardiology, and nursing; open‑source AIM bundles; early warning tools; and standards that compress time-to-treatment when minutes matte...

A patient rolls into the OR with a tracheostomy—do you maintain the current tube, intubate orally, or go through the stoma? We break down the decision tree that keeps patients safe, from assessing tract maturity and surgical needs to choosing cuffed vs uncuffed strategies and planning for positive pressure ventilation. Then we shift to a critical safety pivot: total laryngectomy. When the trachea...

Tracheostomy complications occur at an alarming rate, affecting nearly half of all patients during their initial hospitalization. When these emergencies strike, having a systematic approach can make the difference between life and death. We dive deep into the critical steps for managing a malfunctioning tracheostomy, beginning with immediate actions like cuff deflation and rapid information gather...

When our smallest patients need anesthesia care, their immature systems present unique challenges that demand specialized knowledge and vigilance. The risk of postoperative apnea in former preterm infants has long been recognized, but the evidence guiding management continues to evolve. Join Dr. Alli Bechtel and pediatric anesthesiologist, Dr. Eva Lu-Boettcher as they explore the physiological vul...

Could your CO2 sensor be putting patients at risk? This eye-opening Rapid Response to Questions from our Readers episode explores a serious patient safety concern that every anesthesia professional needs to understand. We dive into two troubling cases where patients under general anesthesia developed respiratory acidosis despite normal-appearing monitoring parameters. The culprit? A semi-quantitat...

Patient engagement stands as the cornerstone of perioperative safety, bringing together the knowledge of medical professionals with the lived experiences of those receiving care. Through powerful personal testimonies and expert insights, we explore how this critical partnership transforms surgical outcomes. Vonda Vaden Bates shares her heartbreaking journey that began with her husband's succe...

What happens when we truly listen to patients' fears about anesthesia? The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) discovered something remarkable: despite the wealth of medical information available, patients' most pressing questions about anesthesia remained largely unanswered in accessible language. This episode delves into the groundbreaking work of the APSF Patient Engagement Wo...

Every anesthesia professional has encountered IV infiltration—but when neuromuscular blocking agents are involved, this common complication becomes a complex patient safety challenge with no established guidelines. This episode delves into the critical management of infiltrated paralytics, a complication affecting 14% of peripheral IV catheterizations that can lead to delayed induction, compromise...

Ever wondered what happens when neuromuscular blocking agents infiltrate into surrounding tissue instead of flowing smoothly through an IV? The consequences can be serious and potentially life-threatening for patients recovering from anesthesia. We dive deep into a complication that affects nearly 14% of the 150 million peripheral IV catheter insertions performed annually in the United States. Whi...

Navigating the fine line between effective pain control and minimizing harm from opioid medications remains one of anesthesiology's greatest challenges. This episode dives deep into the evolving landscape of perioperative pain management, examining how clinicians can achieve the delicate balance required for optimal patient outcomes. Dr. Paul Guillod joins us to share his perspective as both...

Perioperative stroke represents a rare but potentially devastating complication of anesthesia care. While occurring in less than 1% of non-cardiac surgical patients, this complication fundamentally threatens not just patient outcomes but their very identity. As Dr. Jacob Nadler poignantly notes in our podcast, "By maintaining brain health, we're preserving the essence of who our patients...

A revolution in pain management has arrived. The FDA's approval of Suzetrigine in January 2025 introduces the first non-opioid analgesic for moderate to severe pain in over twenty years. This breakthrough medication targets the voltage-gated sodium channel, NAV1.8, effectively blocking pain signals at their source before they reach the brain. What makes Suzetrigine remarkable is its precision...