13 Pre-anaesthetic evaluation

Pre-anaesthetic evaluation serves the purposes of maximizing both anaesthetic safety and efficiency of healthcare delivery. With the advent of outpatient care, the pre-anaesthetic evaluation clinic has become common. In the emerging American model, computerized records speed the gathering of patient records and the assessment of patient condition. Physician entry of patient evaluation is moving from dictation to direct physician entry, which will accelerate as handwriting and voice recognition systems mature. Purchasers of such systems should consider the security of the system, including authentication, authorization, encryption and storage systems utilized.