Knowledge of pharmacokinetics and the anesthesia control loop

摘要

Pharmacokinetics plays an important role in the delivery of anesthesia. Their complex nature creates a challenging control task for anesthesiologists while delivering anesthesia. The anesthesia domain confronts many known control difficulties such as non-linearity, oscillations, and sub-optimal feedback. A clinician’s understanding of pharmacokinetics plays an important role in tracking performance. Information about anesthesiologists’ knowledge of pharmacokinetics was collected and analyzed. Effects of expertise and considerable variability, even within groups, were observed in the collected data. Reducing variability and supporting the tracking task in the administration of anesthesia could lead to improved patient outcomes.