Anesthesia care team risk: considerations to standardize anesthesia technician training.

The anesthesia profession has produced voluminous research data on equipment and techniques leading to safer practices, but the lack of attention given to the inconspicuous role of anesthesia support personnel on the anesthesia care team may pose a risk to patient safety. It is questionable whether the skills of anesthesia support personnel who are trained on the job have kept up with an increasingly complex healthcare environment. Medical technology and demand for high-quality care will continue to escalate; patient safety will remain a top priority. Therefore, a definitive strategy to mitigate risk and ensure patient safety begins with strengthening the infrastructure of the anesthesia team. Formal education and certification may ensure that skill sets of anesthesia support personnel will uniformly advance with technology and standards of patient care.