Anesthesia information management systems

Abstract

Introduction: The use of anesthesia information management systems (AIMS) is on the increase. This is particularly true for academic anesthesia departments. The main reasons for slow adoption of these systems in the past are financial barriers associated with implementation of these systems and their not so traditionally obvious potential to improve patient care. In addition, a major obstacle to acceptance of this technology is the concern of users over the impact of the electronic anesthesia record on malpractice exposure.Conclusions: The experience reported by departments using AIMS indicates that these systems are useful for managing malpractice risk. AIMS can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of preoperative, intraoperative, and post-operative anesthesia care. However, AIMS are able to increase the quality of care and improve operating room efficiency only with careful planning, installation, and customization. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis performed for AIMS could help departments in making better decisions when implementing AIMS.

Keywords

• anesthesia
• perioperative care
• medical documentation
• anesthesia record
• software