Equipment and environmental issues for nonoperating room anesthesia.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The demand for anesthesia care outside the operating room continues to grow, driven by trends in advanced diagnostic techniques and the financial advantages of providing care out of the hospital setting. This review examines recent literature identifying new equipment and environmental issues that impact on nonoperating-room anesthesia care.

RECENT FINDINGS

This review addresses the safety implications of the new high-field-strength (3 Tesla) magnetic resonance imaging scanners and also the differences in anesthesia delivery system design that influence the duration of function when only gas cylinders are available.

SUMMARY

Practitioners who render anesthesia care outside of the operating room need to be cognizant of changing equipment design, which raises new challenges for rendering safe care.