Anaesthesia for electroconvulsive therapy. Personnel and facilities.

Abstract

In order to compare the anaesthetic staffing and facilities provided for patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy with those provided for patients undergoing elective cystoscopy, a confidential telephone enquiry was conducted. An anaesthetist in each of the 40 hospitals where electroconvulsive therapy is performed in three Health Regions chosen at random was questioned. The results show that a high standard of care is provided for patients undergoing elective cystoscopy in terms of pre-operative assessment, anaesthetic assistance, intra-operative monitoring and postoperative recovery facilities. The standards of care and of facilities for patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy are substantially inferior and commonly fall short of accepted national guidelines.