Electronic Anesthesia Records: Anesthesia Information Management Systems

Electronic health records (EHRs) enable the collection of patient data in an electronic format that can be analyzed to, inter alia, improve patient care processes and facilitate decision making. Anesthesia information management systems (AIMS) are either integrated EHR modules or stand-alone software and hardware products that were developed as a means to document electronically the details of a patient's anesthetic and physiological status while under anesthesia. AIMS enables generation of electronic anesthesia record that captures data in an automated fashion from devices and allows the user to manually document a variety of data. This chapter deals with AIMS software and hardware and the potential benefits and perceived drawbacks of AIMS. The massive amount of data collected by AIMS can be used for quality and safety initiatives. The chapter also outlines the potential for pediatric anesthesia research within the anesthesia EHR.