Emily Methangkool, MD, MPH, Discusses Considerations Around Non-OR Anesthesia on MedPage Today

January 13, 2023

Malpractice claims in NORA compared to the operating room are more commonly associated with injury from respiratory issues, for example hypoxia or hyperventilation. That is more common in NORA because we are sedating the patients without a protected airway, so for a lot of these cases we are not putting a breathing tube in the patient [who is getting] sedation.

In MedPage Today, Emily Methangkool, MD, MPH, was quoted in an article regarding concerns about non-OR anesthesia (NORA) care and patient safety(Link is external) (Link opens in new window). Additionally, she was quoted in a sidebar to the story(Link is external) (Link opens in new window), which looked at how including anesthesia teams in the design of procedural suites outside of the OR could be one way to help improve patient safety. “Currently, the majority of procedural suites were built based on the needs of the specialists, not the anesthesiologists,” said Dr. Methangkool.