Vigilance in Anesthesia Practice: What's New in 2024?

he concept of vigilance is central to anesthesiology and had served as the original motto of ASA. 1 Vigilance is the ability to concentrate on, or attend to, a situation for an extended period of time to detect a signal or critical event. 2 In anesthesiology, vigilance can be considered a state of awareness in which dangerous conditions are anticipated and recognized. 3These conditions may initially present as subtle signals that appear at unspecified intervals. 4The understanding of how vigilance leads to safe, effective performance has been enhanced though the theory of situational awareness (SA), which describes the perception of elements in the environment, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their state in the near future. 5This can guide both an understanding of and solutions to the causes of patient harm. 6,7