TITLE:
Risk and Uncertainty in Anesthesia
AUTHORS:
Roman Pohorecki, Gary E. Hill
KEYWORDS:
Risk; Uncertainty; Communication
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Anesthesiology,
Vol.3 No.7,
September
4,
2013
ABSTRACT: This article discusses risk and
uncertainty, both stochastic and epistemic, as it applies to anesthesia. It
shows the difficulty
in quantifying risk of individual case and the somewhat arbitrary and even
incorrect and naive assignment of risk in individual patient care management.
Effective and honest communication remains at the core of physician-patient
relationship in discussing, evaluating and managing the individual case for
optimum outcome as well as patients’ and their families' satisfaction and
understanding.