Risk and Uncertainty in Anesthesia

Roman Pohorecki, Gary E. Hill

Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Management, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA..
Department of Anesthesiology, Southwest Medical Center, Liberal, USA;.

DOI: 10.4236/ojanes.2013.37072                

Abstract

This article discusses risk and uncertainty, both stochastic and epistemic, as it applies to anesthesia. It shows the difficulty in quantifying risk of individual case and the somewhat arbitrary and even incorrect and naive assignment of risk in individual patient care management. Effective and honest communication remains at the core of physician-patient relationship in discussing, evaluating and managing the individual case for optimum outcome as well as patients’ and their families' satisfaction and understanding.

Keywords

Risk; Uncertainty; Communication

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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