Anesthesia delivery machines are a fixture in every OR, but do you and your staff know what makes them go, and how to make sure they keep going?

In "How Do Anesthesia Machines Work?", which appears in the October issue of Outpatient Surgery Magazine, Mike Dosch, PhD, MS, CRNA, provides a guided tour.

Dr. Dosch, an associate professor at the University of Detroit Mercy in Michigan who chairs the school's nurse anesthesia department, describes the job that each component of an anesthesia machine does, as well as the important role that they, working together, play in your facility's surgical efficiency.

"Providers aren't anesthetizing patients as deeply as they used to and aim to keep them breathing on their own as much as possible, which leads to quicker emergence in PACU and faster discharges," he writes. "Today's anesthesia machines have evolved to keep up with this shift in patient care philosophy."

The article also includes safety and cost-containment considerations that should influence any purchasing decision, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists' outline of every-day and every-case steps to ensure the machine's safe operation.

David Bernard