Anesthesia Time Record
A chronological log documenting the start and stop times of anesthetic care, drug administrations, vital signs, and clinical events during a dental anesthetic.
Full Definition
The anesthesia time record (also called an anesthesia flow sheet) is a contemporaneous document completed by the anesthesia provider throughout the perioperative period. It captures patient vital signs at regular intervals, drug names and doses with times of administration, airway management events, fluid balance, and any intraoperative complications. In dental anesthesiology, this record also serves as the primary billing and medicolegal document, with anesthesia time calculated from induction to emergence. Editors must ensure that time entries follow a consistent 24-hour format and that abbreviations for drug names are expanded or defined per house style.
Usage
Usage note: Times should be documented in 24-hour format in clinical records to avoid AM/PM ambiguity; flag documents using 12-hour format for correction.
In Context
- "The anesthesia time record showed a three-minute gap in vital sign documentation coinciding with the reported adverse event." — Quality assurance audit
- "All drug doses on the anesthesia time record must be expressed in milligrams or micrograms per kilogram alongside absolute doses." — Editorial style guide for anesthesia documentation