No matter where we go or what we do, technology is an integral and ever-increasing part of our lives. This is true in our homes, our cars and certainly in our O.R. and non-O.R. procedural areas. Over the past 50 years, technology has flourished within the periprocedural world, significantly improving patient safety with real, measurable reductions in morbidity and mortality.1
We have come a long way since the days of William Morton.2 Our first ether anesthetics, documented on paper records in 1895, contained little more than observations of pulse, respiration and temperature (Figure 1).3 Pulse oximetry, auto-cycling non-invasive blood pressure and disconnect alarms all evolved in the 1970s and 1980s, improving clinical workflow and patient safety.4,5 The late 1990s saw the advent of infusion pumps with drug libraries that are now the standard of care throughout the world.6 The early 2000s...
