Given recent events that have received significant media coverage, there is increased scrutiny and concern over safety and quality in ambulatory anesthesia. As more and more surgeries occur in outpatient settings, regulatory bodies are not the only ones asking questions. Many of our patients share these apprehensions, and our profession has a duty to help allay these fears.
In an effort to further our knowledge and insight regarding the current practice of anesthesiology in the United States, large-scale data regarding patients, procedures, and outcomes is now being collected and analyzed. Currently, there are two national registries gathering data, serving unique roles by providing a snapshot of the current state of ambulatory anesthesia. The first is the Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR). Since 2010, NACOR has been amassing case data regarding all aspects of anesthesia care, a subset of which is ambulatory data. NACOR is the...