Anesthesia Patient Safety Podcast

Trust is getting harder to earn in healthcare, yet it might be the most important thing. We continue our coverage of the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference series starting with Thomas Lee, MD, asking the uncomfortable question most systems avoid: what are we producing with all this work in healthcare? His answer lands with force. The product is trust, built through patient experience, reliable teamwork, and the everyday choices that tell patients we are coordinated, prepared, and on their side.

We dig into what actually earns patient trust, including why patients respond when they can see teamwork in action, not just hear reassurance. We also explore social capital in healthcare, the practical value of norms, and why kindness is not “nice,” but a behavior that supports growth, strengthens psychological safety, and improves how teams function under stress. Along the way, we connect communication to outcomes, including how listening, clear explanations, and respect can align with measurable improvements in outcomes.

Then Colonel Stephen Coffey moderates a vital shift to no surgery without shared understanding. Professor Mike Grocott and surgeon Ron Charles, MD, push beyond paperwork to shared decision making, where consent is not the finish line and “what happens if I do nothing?” becomes a necessary option. We close by reframing success around recovery, quality of life, and patient-reported outcomes, especially for older adults facing incomplete recovery.

Subscribe for more anesthesia patient safety conversations, share this with a colleague, and leave a review if it helps your team build trust where it matters most.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/330-stoelting-conference-part-4/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

If your preop clinic feels overloaded, the answer might not be “work harder” it might be “triage smarter.” We share highlights from the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference on how perioperative teams can match resources to risk, protect access for complex patients, and improve safety across the full surgical journey.

We dig into the Cleveland Clinic approach to risk stratification using readmission and mortality data, then translate it into real pathways: virtual preoperative evaluation for low risk patients, focused in-person assessment for high risk patients, and advanced care planning for the most vulnerable. The operational upside is real, too: telemedicine can lower cost per encounter, scale staffing without adding rooms, and free up time for the patients who truly need it.

From there, we fast forward to what happens after surgery, where post discharge care often determines whether patients recover smoothly or bounce back to the hospital. The data driven message is clear: earlier follow up for high risk patients can reduce mortality and readmissions. We also explore what a safer AI future requires, including the cognitive traps behind missed AI mistakes and a practical rule for calibration: treat AI like a junior teammate with strong training and no references or real world experience.

Finally, we challenge ourselves to treat patient experience as a vital sign, connect it to standardized perioperative outcomes, and consider how transparency efforts like Leapfrog safety grades can drive change. If you care about anesthesia patient safety, perioperative medicine, and trustworthy AI in healthcare, subscribe, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians can find it.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/329-smarter-perioperative-triage/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Welcome to the 2nd episode in our coverage of this year's APSF Stoelting Conference. Discharge feels like a win, but what if it’s only the handoff into the riskiest part of recovery? We challenge the OR to PACU to hospital discharge success mindset and zoom out to the full perioperative journey, where real anesthesia patient safety is measured by what patients can do once they’re back home
living their lives.

We share powerful ideas from the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference, including a vision for frictionless surgical care that reduces the burden on patients and clinicians through earlier history capture, smarter coordination, and better post-discharge pathways for known patients who need urgent help. Then we get concrete about outcomes: high-risk surgical patients are safer when they’re seen within 14 days after discharge, but limited clinic resources make that hard to deliver consistently. AI-powered risk stratification and predictive analytics can help identify who truly needs that early follow-up to reduce readmissions and mortality.

We also explore patient-defined success, where an uneventful anesthetic and smooth PACU can still end in confusion, missed medications, fear of mobility, or a preventable fall at home. The 4Ms framework (what matters, medication, mind, mobility) gives us a practical lens for age-friendly perioperative care. On the front end, we look at how AI can support preop clinic workflows, from triage to medication instructions, while naming the real concern of de-skilling and the need for clinician upskilling.

If you find this useful, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review so more perioperative teams can build safer recoveries beyond discharge.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/328-discharge-is-not-the-finish-line-stoelting-conference-series-part-2/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

SOS is more than a maritime relic. It is proof that when people agree on a shared signal, they move faster, coordinate better, and save lives. That is the challenge we wrestle with from the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference. Healthcare is full of alarms, monitors, checklists, risk scores, and AI predictions, but we still struggle to agree on which safety signals truly matter, what they mean, and what we are supposed to do next to prevent harm across the perioperative continuum. This is the first part of our series on the 2026 APSF Stoelting Conference.

We dig into a barrier that quietly slows progress: mixing up quality and patient safety. From the patient’s view, quality asks whether care meets best practice, while safety is simpler and more urgent: “Please don’t harm me.” Real patient safety improvement leans on safety science, systems thinking, resilience, psychological safety, and human factors engineering. One memorable example makes it painfully concrete: a defibrillator design that can be accidentally powered off during a cardiac arrest, forcing a multi-minute reboot when seconds determine survival. The takeaway is clear: safer design beats another training module.

Then we zoom out to the 30,000-foot problem of perioperative mortality. Intraoperative deaths are now rare, but postoperative mortality remains common, with threats like myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery, acute kidney injury, and respiratory complications. We talk about why intermittent ward vital signs miss dangerous hypoxemia and hypotension, why opioids (especially with sedatives) amplify risk, and why continuous vital sign monitoring and stronger postoperative medical management may be the next big step in anesthesia patient safety.

We wrap by connecting quality, safety, and revenue through analytics and clinical AI, including risk stratification and targeted post-discharge follow-up for high-risk patients. Subscribe for more Stoelting Conference highlights, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more perioperative teams can find the tools to keep patients safe.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/327-sos-signals-for-perioperative-safety-stoelting-conference-series-part-1/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Eye pain in the PACU can trigger a reflex page to ophthalmology, but that reflex is not always the safest or most efficient choice. We provide considerations for perioperative corneal abrasions including why most are superficial epithelial injuries that heal quickly and how an anesthesia-led protocol can deliver fast relief without missing the rare dangerous presentation. If you’ve been unsure when a consult is truly necessary, this conversation gives you a practical, defensible path forward.

We revisit a step-by-step PACU workflow: recognize symptoms early, perform a focused eye exam, assess for visual acuity changes, and use fluorescein staining with cobalt blue light to confirm a defect. We also share the ophthalmologist perspective on “uncomplicated” corneal abrasion management, including lubrication, antibiotic ointment options, and why routine consults can delay discharge, raise costs, and strain resources. The most important piece is the safety net: clear escalation triggers such as significantly reduced visual acuity, worsening or persistent pain, failure to heal, corneal infiltrate or ulceration, fixed pupil, hyphema or hypopyon, suspected foreign body or penetrating injury, stromal involvement, or dendritic staining.

Then we pivot to medication safety and smart infusion pumps, spotlighting a real-world rollout of Baxter Novum syringe pumps in high-turnover procedural areas. We discuss how usability issues can suppress smart pump compliance, why human factors engineering matters, and how a team used AI to summarize narrative survey feedback into actionable themes. If you care about high-value perioperative care, patient safety protocols, and devices that actually work under pressure, this one is for you. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review with the one change you want to bring to your PACU or OR.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/326-corneal-abrasions-after-surgery/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

A patient gets harmed, everyone wants answers, and the system too often responds with blame, silence, or a slow-moving inquiry that arrives years after the frontline has moved on. Today, we are hosting a special podcast takeover show from The Medical Safety Podcast.

Hosted by Dr. Adam Shehata (former professional pilot turned physician) and Dr. Amir Hamid (anesthetist and emergency medicine physician), The Medical Safety Podcast focuses on how to improve our healthcare system by integrating human factors into systems safety, including medical incident investigation and proactive safety measures.

This is Episode 10 where Adam and Amir discuss the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) - UK’s independent aviation-style investigatory body for medical incidents with their CEO, Dr. Rosie Benneyworth.

We hope that you will subscribe to The Medical Safety Podcast for more conversations about healthcare systems improvement and patient safety.

If you care about patient safety, medical incident investigation, healthcare systems improvement, and practical human factors insights, subscribe, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more teams can build safer systems.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/325-apsf-podcast-takeover-the-hssib-with-ceo-dr-rosie-benneyworth/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Your airway cart might look fully stocked, but one quiet change can reshape an entire intubation: a different endotracheal tube brand, a new material formulation, a redesigned cuff, or changes in diameter measurements. We take a close, practical look at endotracheal tube materials and design, and why supply chain instability and product discontinuations can turn a “routine” device into a patient safety risk, particularly for neonates, infants, and other pediatric patients where millimeters matter.

We break down what actually varies between endotracheal tubes that share the same labeled size: PVC construction and the move away from DEHP, changes in flexibility, and how internal diameter, wall thickness, and manufacturing variability can increase resistance and impair ventilation. We also dig into cuffed endotracheal tubes and why there is no universal cuff standard. Cuff shape, cuff material, and contact surface area can change leak behavior, micro-aspiration risk, and the seal you rely on. Then we zoom in on failure points clinicians can miss, including pilot balloon and pilot line defects, the ability to pass a suction catheter in tiny cuffed tubes, distal tip designs that can deform, and when the presence or absence of a Murphy eye can matter in an emergency.

To close, we read and reflect on a published statement responding to medication errors that harmed patients, reinforcing an essential distinction: a wrong drug or wrong route error is not the same thing as spinal anesthesia being unsafe. We highlight system safeguards that prevent neuraxial medication errors, including standardized labeling, separation of high-alert meds, and technology-assisted verification.

Subscribe for more anesthesia patient safety deep dives, share this with a colleague who manages airways, and leave a review so more clinicians can find the show. What ET tube check has saved you from trouble?

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/324-endotracheal-tubes-are-not-all-the-same/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Your first day in anesthesia can be overwhelming with so many numbers, dials, alarms, and decisions that all land at once, and the stakes are high. We sit down with Dr. Lahiru Amaratanga to ask a simple question with big implications for anesthesia patient safety: how can technology make clinicians learn faster without losing the human touch that keeps patients safe?

We dig into practical education innovation, starting with AI coaching and moving toward a “trainee dashboard” that could track real clinical experience like intubations, IV cannulation attempts, and areas that need deliberate practice. We talk about why this kind of visibility can help educators teach with confidence, reduce awkwardness for learners, and support competency-based medical education using spaced learning, mobile learning, and smart reminders. The goal is not more content, but better learning trajectories that translate into safer decisions in the OR.

Then we widen the lens to teamwork and global safety. We reflect on what we can learn from high-performing day-to-day teams and surgeon anesthetist dyads, and why stable collaboration may improve outcomes. From an international anesthesia perspective, we highlight the need for minimal universal anesthesia monitoring standards and ask whether digital education closes the gap for low resource settings or risks widening it if new tools stay unaffordable.

If you care about safer anesthesia care, smarter clinical training, and education that actually changes practice, listen now and share this with a colleague. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what innovation would most improve safety where you work.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/323-how-technology-can-speed-training-and-strengthen-anesthesia-patient-safety/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

The fastest way to improve anesthesia patient safety is often to stop asking people to be perfect and start redesigning the world they work in. Dr. Alli Bechtel sits down with Dr. Lahiru Amaratunge, a consultant anesthetist in Melbourne, to unpack how human factors engineering, smarter workflows, and better training systems can prevent harm before it happens.

We trace Lahiru’s path from supervising medical students to building the ABCs of Anesthesia YouTube channel and the Anesthesia Collective, creating practical videos and resources that trainees can watch before they step into the operating room. He shares the real behind-the-scenes work: the fear of posting, the sting and value of criticism, and why a five-minute procedural video can take an entire day to produce. We also talk about scaling learning with recorded exam practice, plus new projects that leverage AI as an exam coach and interview coach.

From there, we zoom into systems safety: designing out medication errors, reducing wrong-route neuraxial risk with NRFit connectors, and learning from morbidity and mortality cases where “simple” design flaws lead to devastating outcomes. Lahiru explains how closed-loop communication, flattening hierarchy, and in situ simulation in places like MRI and the cath lab build sharper teams. We end with an honest look at smartphones in medical education: incredible access, real distraction, and why checklists and handwritten recall still matter.

Subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians can find practical anesthesia safety ideas that work in the real world.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/322-designing-safer-anesthesia/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

A dental office can feel low-stakes until the moment it isn’t. We pick up our conversation with Dr. Rita Agarwal to talk about the real-world safety gaps in dental sedation and dental anesthesia, especially for children, and the practical steps that can prevent a routine procedure from turning into a catastrophe.

We walk through the exact questions families can ask before scheduling deep sedation or general anesthesia: What medications are being used? What level of sedation is planned, and how do you know it stays there? Who is responsible for the anesthesia, and is there a dedicated anesthesia provider whose only job is monitoring and rescue? Dr. Agarwal makes the key point behind the ASA sedation guidelines: sedation can go deeper than planned, so the team must be able to rescue from the next deeper level. That means airway rescue readiness, including the most basic lifesaving skill in the office-based anesthesia setting: effective bag-mask ventilation. We also talk about emergency medications and why asking about oxygen, naloxone, and flumazenil can reveal whether a practice is truly prepared.

From there, we zoom out to the systems problem. We discuss why the U.S. still lacks consistent data and reporting, how state-by-state regulation creates uneven standards, and why simulation training should be routine anywhere sedation is delivered. Dr. Agarwal shares what she hopes to see next: better standardization, stronger requirements for deep sedation and general anesthesia, and robust databases that help us learn from every sedation, not just the cases that reach the news.

If you care about pediatric dental sedation safety, office-based anesthesia, and preventing avoidable harm, listen, share this with a colleague, and subscribe. After you listen, leave us a review and tell us what change you want to see first in your state.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/321-safer-dental-anesthesia-part-2/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

A dental chair shouldn’t be a place where safety standards slip, yet that’s the reality Dr. Rita Agarwal lays out with unsettling clarity. We talk through why office-based dental sedation and dental anesthesia can slide into dangerous territory: unclear definitions, uneven training, inconsistent monitoring requirements, and a system that often can’t even tell you how many serious complications occur.

Dr. Agarwal, a pediatric anesthesiologist and longtime patient safety advocate, traces how dentistry and medicine evolved along parallel anesthesia paths, then explains what happens when those paths don’t share the same safeguards. We discuss the tragic story of six-year-old Caleb Sears and how “someone will be monitoring” can mean very different things across settings. From oral anxiolysis to deep sedation and general anesthesia with drugs like propofol and opioids, the episode highlights the moment risk spikes: when ventilation fails and no one in the room is trained, equipped, and empowered to rescue.

We also get practical about what reduces harm right now: smarter patient selection (especially with comorbidities like obstructive sleep apnea or cardiac disease), consistent terminology that reflects the true depth of sedation, and an independent anesthesia professional whose only job is caring the patient. Finally, we dig into the dental anesthesia data problem and why reporting adverse events and near misses is the foundation for real systems change.

If you care about patient safety, perioperative monitoring, and preventing clinical deterioration in any outpatient setting, listen through and share your take. Subscribe, share this episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians and families can find it.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/320-dental-anesthesia-safety-gaps-part-1/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Ketamine for emergency intubation has a reputation for hemodynamic stability, but does the best evidence back that up when your patient is truly sick? Today, we walk through four fresh research summaries that sharpen day-to-day anesthesia patient safety decisions, from airway management in shock and sepsis to the way teams and technology shape outcomes in the OR.

First, we break down a large randomized controlled trial comparing ketamine versus etomidate for tracheal intubation in critically ill adults across U.S. emergency departments and ICUs. Mortality is similar, but ketamine shows more peri-intubation cardiovascular collapse, including hypotension and increased vasopressor use, especially in sicker patients. Our practical focus is how to choose an induction agent based on hemodynamic risk and how to prepare for peri-intubation instability.

Next, we head into the cardiac OR to explore why surgeon-anesthesiologist dyad familiarity may be a systems-level patient safety strategy. A large retrospective study links more consistent pairings with lower operative mortality and better perioperative outcomes, raising real questions about scheduling, teamwork, and communication under pressure. We also review evidence on BIS-guided closed-loop anesthesia systems that improve anesthetic depth control by reducing excessively deep anesthesia without increasing light anesthesia, and we close with perioperative brain health, highlighting why routine preoperative cognitive screening is still uncommon and what resources could finally make it standard practice.

Subscribe to the Anesthesia Patient Safety Podcast, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians can find the latest evidence-focused perioperative safety insights.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/319-four-new-studies-that-change-daily-anesthesia-safety-decisions/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Air embolism is one of those complications that feels impossible right up until it happens fast, quietly, and with life-altering consequences. We walk through the FDA’s 2025 Early Alert on the Watchman access system for left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) procedures and connect the dots between device exchange steps, transseptal puncture, and the anesthetic choice that can put patients at risk.

We talk about why the shift toward sedation and spontaneous ventilation in structural heart procedures can increase risk when an access system is open or imperfectly sealed. Negative intrathoracic pressure may create a suction gradient that favors air entry into the left atrium, where even small volumes can lead to coronary air embolism or cerebral air embolism. We also review what the FDA reported, including known cases of serious injury and death, and why registry rates may underestimate true events.

From there, we translate guidance into practical anesthesia patient safety moves you can use in the interventional cardiology suite: when to consider controlled positive pressure ventilation and PEEP, what to watch during sheath manipulation, and how to set clear roles for sheath control, flushing, and line management. We cover prevention details like keeping components below the level of the heart, slow flushing to maintain a continuous fluid column, and performing exchanges under saline or water baths. We also outline an immediate response plan: recognize quickly, support hemodynamics, consider Trendelenburg positioning, aspirate air if indicated, and activate perfusion support early when available.

If this topic touches your practice, share this with your cardiology and anesthesia team, then subscribe, leave a review, and send the episode to a colleague who does transseptal cases. What does your team do to prevent air entrainment during exchanges?

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/318-air-embolism-alert/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Many patients walk into labor and delivery picturing a birth day, not an operating room, and that mismatch is where preventable suffering can start. We sit down with Dr. Ruthi Landau to get practical about cesarean delivery anesthesia, with a focus on patient safety, respectful communication, and what to do when a patient says, “This isn’t comfortable.”

We dig into why setting expectations during neuraxial consent matters, and why active management of labor epidurals is not optional when an urgent intrapartum C-section may be around the corner. We also unpack what the literature keeps showing: epidural top-ups for intrapartum cesarean delivery are a common pathway to intraoperative discomfort. From re-dosing to adjuvants to real-time reassurance, we talk through concrete ways to prevent pain from being brushed off as “normal.”

The conversation goes beyond the OR. A traumatic cesarean experience can shape the next pregnancy, fuel avoidance, and contribute to childbirth-related PTSD. We discuss trauma-informed care, offering debriefs, connecting patients to maternal mental health services, and using patient-reported experience measures to learn where systems fail. On the technical side, we cover pain management for general anesthesia cases, when to keep using an existing epidural, how neuraxial opioids fit with SOAP consensus monitoring guidance, and what a solid multimodal plan looks like when there is no neuraxial option including TAP or QL blocks, acetaminophen, NSAIDs, and opioid stewardship.

Subscribe for more obstetric anesthesia and anesthesia patient safety conversations, share this with an anesthesia or OB colleague, and leave a review to help others find the show. What change are you most ready to make in your C-section anesthesia practice?

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/317-setting-expectations-for-safer-cesarean-anesthesia-with-dr-ruthi-landau-revisited-part-2/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

If you’ve ever heard “it’s just pressure” during a C-section and felt your gut twist, you’re not alone, and it may be a patient safety issue hiding in plain sight. We sit down with Dr. Ruthi Landau, the Virginia Apgar Professor of Anesthesiology and Director of Obstetric Anesthesiology at Columbia University, to get practical about what patients actually feel during cesarean delivery anesthesia and what we can do when those sensations become uncomfortable.

We talk through why labeling sensations as pressure versus pain misses the point, and why the better clinical question is simple: “Is it uncomfortable?” From there, we unpack a safer communication loop that invites patients to speak up and gives them real choices for relief, whether that means dosing through an epidural, using IV medication, or escalating plans when neuraxial techniques are not working.

We also dig into opioid-sparing strategies for C-section pain management, including multimodal non-opioid analgesia, the risks of cookie-cutter discharge prescriptions, and how shared decision-making can reduce leftover opioids at home. Finally, Dr. Landau shares current practice insights on dexmedetomidine for shivering, anxiety, and visceral discomfort, along with the evolving evidence base and dosing approaches being used today.

If you care about safer cesarean delivery, obstetric anesthesia best practices, and preventing opioid-related harm, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and leave a review so more clinicians can find the conversation.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/316-safer-c-section-pain-control-revisited-part-1/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Pain during cesarean delivery is not “just pressure,” and it is not rare. We dig into why inadequate pain control during C-section remains underrecognized even as patient-reported data suggest it may be one of the most common anesthetic complications in obstetric anesthesia, with consequences that can reach far beyond the operating room including PTSD, postpartum depression, disrupted bonding, and lasting distress about birth.

We walk through what the research has measured so far (conversion to general anesthesia, neuraxial replacement, and intravenous rescue medications) and what those markers can miss when the team does not recognize pain in real time. Patient stories, including lessons highlighted in The Retrievals podcast, make the safety gap impossible to ignore and help explain how bias, hierarchy, and cultural norms can quietly normalize suffering. We also unpack how language choices, especially the casual overuse of “pressure,” can minimize pain and derail clear assessment.

From there, we get practical. We talk about shared decision making, objective ways to identify intraoperative pain, and how teams can escalate care: pause when possible, optimize neuraxial anesthesia, use evidence-based adjuncts, and move to general anesthesia when regional anesthesia is not sufficient. We also cover why systems matter, from reliable block testing to OR readiness for safe obstetric general anesthesia and postoperative follow-up when pain occurs.

Subscribe for more anesthesia patient safety conversations, share this with a colleague on L&D, and leave a review so more clinicians can find it. What is one change you want your team to make after listening?

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/315-pain-during-cesarean-delivery/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Eye pain in the PACU can feel like an automatic page to ophthalmology, but it doesn’t have to be. We break down postoperative corneal abrasions on the show today.

We share practical, clinician-ready guidance drawn from a multidisciplinary PACU corneal abrasion protocol developed with anesthesiology and ophthalmology expertise. You’ll hear exactly what to ask and look for when a patient reports blurry vision or a gritty sensation, the red flag that changes everything (vision loss), and how fluorescein stain plus a cobalt blue light exam can quickly sort a true corneal defect from keratoconjunctivitis or dry eyes. We also cover straightforward treatment for an uncomplicated corneal abrasion, including erythromycin ointment every four hours until symptoms resolve, along with clear follow-up rules when symptoms persist beyond 24 hours.

Then, we dig into the quality improvement and operations side: how tracking cases in the electronic medical record supports reliable follow-up, how the protocol reduces unnecessary ophthalmology consults, and why this approach can improve patient satisfaction while protecting safety. You’ll also hear the real-world impact, including complete symptom resolution in tracked patients and substantial patient cost savings tied to avoided consult charges.

Subscribe for more anesthesia patient safety insights, share this episode with a colleague who staffs PACU, and leave a review to help more clinicians find the show.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/314-pacu-corneal-abrasion-protocol/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

“Opioid-sparing” sounds like an automatic win until you look closely at what replaces the opioids. We take on one of the toughest questions in modern anesthesiology: how do we reduce opioid-related harm without trading it for medication interactions, kidney injury, bleeding risk, rebound pain, or poorly controlled postoperative pain?

We break down what individualized multimodal analgesia really means in day-to-day anesthesia practice. That starts before the first dose is ordered, with a preoperative assessment that weighs comorbidities, baseline renal function, hydration status, and potential drug-drug interactions. We also dig into the medication safety side of multimodal protocols, including why CYP2D6 matters for common oral opioids like hydrocodone, oxycodone, and tramadol, and how CYP2D6 inhibitors such as certain antidepressants can change opioid effectiveness and even extend opioid use after discharge.

Regional anesthesia remains a cornerstone, but we stay honest about the pitfalls: incomplete coverage, visceral pain that sneaks through, and the timing mismatch that can trigger rebound pain 12 to 24 hours after a single-shot block, sometimes when the patient is already home. We also discuss when continuous peripheral nerve blocks may better match the duration of perioperative stress and inflammation, plus the practical barriers that determine whether advanced regional techniques are feasible.

If you care about opioid-sparing anesthesia, patient safety, and better postoperative recovery, listen and share this with a colleague. Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, and tell us: what’s one change you’ll make to your multimodal analgesia plan after hearing this?

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/313-individualized-multimodal-analgesia/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

A virus can feel “far away” right up until it lands in a preop bay with a fever, abdominal pain, and a story that only makes sense weeks later. We walk through what anesthesia, perioperative, and critical care teams need to know about hantavirus, why the incubation period (often 7 to 42 days) complicates detection, and how the Andes virus changes the conversation because it is the only hantavirus known to spread person to person.

We start with the basics that matter at the bedside: common transmission pathways like inhalation of aerosolized particles from rodent droppings, the two major clinical syndromes (hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome), and the pathophysiology that drives non cardiogenic pulmonary edema, shock, thrombocytopenia, and organ failure. We also cover diagnosis (PCR and antibody testing), reporting to public health, and why supportive care remains the foundation, including when ECMO may be considered as a bridge to recovery.

Then, we bring it into the perioperative space with clear, practical infection control guidance for operating rooms and procedural areas. We talk elective case delays after known exposure, emergency surgery planning with bleeding risk, negative pressure isolation rooms, and PPE choices like N95 or PAPR for clinicians. We also share concrete anesthesia circuit precautions recommended by occupational health experts, including HEPA filtration placement, safer gas sampling scavenging, and how to handle circuit disconnections to reduce room contamination.

If you want a focused, evidence aware checklist for hantavirus preparedness in anesthesia care, hit play, share this with a colleague, and subscribe so you do not miss the next safety update. After listening, leave a review and tell us: what is the single biggest gap in your OR infection control plan right now?

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/312-hantavirus-readiness-for-anesthesia-teams/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation

Twenty-two steps to reach an airway is not a quirky workflow problem, it’s a patient safety problem. We’re turning our attention to a neuro-interventional radiology (Neuro IR) suite where cables, monitors, and a poorly positioned anesthesia machine created a cramped, high-friction non-operating room anesthesia (NORA) environment. Joined by John Edwards, CRNA, we unpack how a real-world quality improvement project at the University of Kentucky Medical Center turned staff frustration into an evidence-based anesthesia workspace redesign.

We start with what triggered the change: frontline clinicians describing barriers to optimal patient care, unsafe ergonomics, and a layout that made simple tasks unnecessarily hard. From there, we connect the dots to broader NORA safety expectations, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists guidance on having sufficient space, equipment access, and the ability to reach the patient quickly. Them, the team brings anesthesia staff, interventional radiology personnel, and facilities managers together to redesign the room with minimal disruption.

You’ll hear the practical interventions that made the difference, like cable management using existing ceiling infrastructure, switching to a more compact anesthesia machine, and repositioning equipment to restore clear access to the patient. The results are striking: smoother movement, less clutter, improved morale, and a dramatic reduction in the distance to the airway. If you work in any NORA location, this is a blueprint for safer anesthesia workflows.

Subscribe for more NORA safety and patient safety insights, share this with a colleague who works off-site, and leave a review to help more clinicians find the show.

For show notes & transcript, visit our episode page at apsf.org: https://www.apsf.org/podcast/311-from-cable-chaos-to-one-step-airway-access/

© 2026, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation