Clinical Anesthesia Near Misses and Lessons Learned

How do physicians learn to respond to unfamiliar, unusual situations? Medical textbooks are full of helpful information, but they usually do not address complex clinical scenarios. For anesthesiologists, problems are often encountered in the operating room where textbooks and medical journals are not readily available. Even when a text is handy, practical decisions often must be made immediately. Residents in training, recent graduates, and even the most senior anesthesiologists, learn by experience. Case c- ferences and grand rounds are held in almost every hospital so that all staff members can share in their colleague’s experiences. In this book, a c- panion to Near Misses in Pediatric Anesthesia, which was originally p- lished in 1999, John G. Brock-Utne pre sents a variety of interesting cases. Dr. Brock-Utne has a unique talent for describing real clinical dilemmas and their solutions in a concise, interesting, and entertaining manner. I have known the author for more than 30 years, and his enthusiasm for teaching our residents and medical students, combined with his outstanding abilities as a clinical anesthesiologist, are legendary at Stanford Medical Center. Those same qualities are evident in this book. I believe every reader, from the novice anesthesiologist to the most senior clinician, will bene? t from the “experiences” Dr. Brock-Utne brings to this book.