Monitoring during anaesthesia: beyond minimal standards

One of the fundamental tenets of anaesthesia is patient monitoring. In 1985, a modest initiative that started as a straightforward attempt to lower malpractice indemnity costs in hospitals linked with Harvard University made pulse oximetry and capnography mandatory during anaesthesia.1 A year later, the formulated standards were later published in the Journal of the American Medical Association to promote patient safety at the national level.2 In the same year, after much publicity, the American Society of Anesthesiologists ratified the national monitoring standards by an almost unanimous vote.3