Safety concerns start well before anesthesia machine

ABSTRACT

We report a case of sudden onset of an unfamiliar, continuous sound in the operating room during an elective surgical procedure, which was found to be due to leakage of nitrous oxide from a hole in the ballooned up part of the flexible hose pipeline of the anesthesia machine. A slowly leaking hose pipe may be hazardous to the safety of patients as well as staff; a sudden burst of a hose pipe can result in confusion among the busy staff. A need to have guidelines regarding routine checking of hose pipes and printing date of expiry indicating life span of these pipes is stressed