Anaesthetic requirements in patient monitoring.

According to the New English Dictionary, to monitor means to give warning of impending danger. Fundamentally monitoring techniques in anaesthesia serve three main purposes. First they protect the patient by ensuring that the anaesthetist is made aware of any disturbance in physiological patterns beyond acceptable limits. Secondly, the pattern of the patient's response to the effects of anaesthetic and allied drugs or to the effects of surgical interference can be assessed with a view to reversal, curtailment or withdrawal if necessary. Thirdly, the data derived from monitoring specific groups of patients can be used to provide a better understanding of the effects of a given technique or procedure. In anaesthesia the problems of monitoring are conveniently considered under two headings, those related to the operating room and those concerned with management in the post-operative phase in the recovery ward or the intensive care unit.