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Article: Monitoring for Intraoperative Awareness.
- Article from:
- AORN Journal
- Article date:
- December 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Association of Operating Room Nurses, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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As the scope of surgical procedures has grown, so has the practice of anesthesia. Today, anesthesia is safer than ever; however, the possibility of awareness in apparently anesthetized patients continues to plague practitioners. Intraoperative awareness (IOA) has been recognized since 1846, when William Morton, MD, demonstrated the first ether anesthetic agent, and the patient later reported that he had been half-awake during the procedure and had experienced pain.(1) Since then, incidences of IOA have continued to be documented even as anesthesia has progressed to modern techniques and as advances in anesthesia pharmacology and technology have brought new and different ...