Developments in surgery have enabled more ambitious operations to be
attempted than ever before, while similar advances in anaesthesia and
monitoring have meant that many patients who were previously considered
unfit now undergo surgery. It is essential that standards of patient
care during surgery are continued post-operatively until the depressant
effects of anaesthesia have worn off and it is safe for patients to
return to the wards or to their homes. The importance of adequate
supervision by well-trained nurs- ing staff in properly equipped
surroundings has been recognised by the introduction of recovery rooms
in most hospitals. Despite this, many patients still emerge from
anaesthesia in wards or departments where they are supervised by
inexperienced nursing staff in unfamiliar surroundings. Recovery from
anaesthesia may be accompanied by a variety of dangerous and potentially
fatal complications, many of which can be avoided by the detection of
early warning signs and the institution of appropriate therapy before an
irreversible situation is allowed to develop. This book describes the
major complications liable to be encountered and suggests how they may
be avoided by careful monitoring, vigilant nursing and sound
organisation. The patient's behaviour at recovery is influenced by his
pre-operative condition, by drug therapy pre- and intra-operatively and
by the nature of the surgery, and sections have been devoted to these
aspects since a basic understanding of them is essential in anticipating
events in the recovery room.
