PLATFORM : Patient Safety
Recent Senate hearings into state (licensing) requirements for free-standing clinics remind us that, though medical professionals and medical products are strictly regulated, the places in which they are provided often are not.
Anesthesia-related deaths in free-standing clinics stand in sharp contrast to the fall in such deaths following the adoption of professional practice and patient monitoring standards in 1986. Such standards have been universally adopted by U.S. hospitals.
Given the increasing proportion of surgical procedures being performed in outpatient settings in the absence of trained anesthesiologists, it is urgent that we require state licensing to ensure strict adherence to practice standards and safety monitoring. Patient safety can only be assured by adherence to practice standards. They should apply to all locations in which medical services are provided.
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