Use of monitoring devices during anesthesia for cardiac surgery: a survey of practices at public hospitals within the United Kingdom and Ireland.

A questionnaire was sent to all 42 public hospitals, within the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland, known to conduct elective cardiac surgery. Information was sought with regard to the availability of intraoperative monitoring equipment. A one hundred percent response rate was achieved. Pulse oximetry, inspired oxygen analysis, and expired carbon dioxide analysis were not utilized at 4, 8, and 10 hospitals, respectively. Similarly, continuous monitoring of arterial oxygen tension and oxygen fraction in the gas flow to the bypass machine was not conducted in 28 and 32 hospitals, respectively. This survey revealed that essential anesthetic monitoring devices, as defined by the United Kingdom Association of Anesthetists, are not in routine usage during the pre-bypass and post-bypass phases of anesthesia for cardiac surgery within the British Isles.