Psychological harm associated with accidental awareness

Spontaneous reporting of accidental awareness while under general anaesthesia (AAGA) occurs in about one in every 19,000 cases, a major new study conducted in Ireland has found. This incidence of spontaneous patient reports of awareness is much lower than estimates of awareness when patients are specifically asked about it after anaesthesia, which are as high as one in 600. According to the 5th National Audit Project (NAP5) published on Thursday (September 11), accidental awareness is one of the most-feared complications of general anaesthesia for both patients and anaesthetists. The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and the Association of Anaesthetists of…