ABSTRACT
The critical incident concept on which an internal medical audit is based has been proposed to comparatively assess different protocols of anesthesiological support. The purpose of this study was to develop a procedure and to implement it at an anesthesiological unit. The study included and analyzed 361 anesthesiological supports. The list of critical incidents (CIs) contained 53 items and was divided into 8 main groups. CIs were recorded in 42.1% of anesthesias: a total of 304 CIs were noted and the frequency of CIs (the number of recorded CIs per anesthesia was 0.84). The bulk of CIs was associated with the cardiovascular system and varying allergic reactions. The study also yielded data on the distribution of CIs in relation to the type of anesthesiological support, the type of a surgical intervention and the physical status of a patient (according to the ASA classification). This study has only opened a little way to internal audit and showed the importance of its routine use to assess different procedures for anesthesiological support.
