Improvement in anesthesia outcomes has derived from advances in safety science related to equipment, drugs, human factors analysis, professional standardization and organization, subspecialty care, and regionalization. Outcomes of pediatric anesthesia have improved, but universal outcome measures are lacking. Because of the limitations of small numbers, future improvement efforts will necessarily involve multiple disciplines, institutions, and regions, and will require sophisticated systems approaches.
Department of Pediatric Anesthesiology, Medical College of Wisconsin; Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Address reprint requests and correspondence: George M. Hoffman, MD, Anesthesiology 735, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, 9000 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53226.
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