Clinical engineering in anesthesia.

It is difficult to measure the effectiveness of a clinical engineering service for anesthesia objectively. Although the monitoring of service costs can justify the maintenance portion of a support effort, the real benefit derived from improvements in patient safety is less tangible. Ultimately, the number of anesthetic mishaps should decrease as a result of clinical engineering involvement in anesthesia. A comprehensive program has been in operation at Massachusetts General Hospital for four years. During that time, about 100,000 anesthesia procedures have been performed without a single patient injury related to malfunctioning equipment or to an operator error involving equipment. Although this fact may not have statistical significance, there is general agreement among the clinical staff that clinical engineering has contributed to the safe induction of anesthesia by fulfilling the goals and objectives described here.