The 2024 revision of the Norwegian standard for the safe practice of anaesthesia

Abstract

AbstractThe Norwegian standard for the safe practice of anaesthesia was first published in 1991, and revised in 1994, 1998, 2005, 2010 and 2016 respectively. The 1998 version was published in English for the first time in Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica in 2002. It must be noted that this is a national standard, reflecting the specific opportunities and challenges in a Norwegian setting, which may be different from other countries in some respects. A feature of the Norwegian healthcare system is the availability, on a national basis, of specifically highly trained and qualified nurse anaesthetists. Another feature is the geography, with parts of the population living in remote areas. These may be served by small, local emergency hospitals. Emergency transport of patients to larger hospitals is not always achievable when weather conditions are rough. These features and challenges were considered important when designing a balanced and consensus‐based national standard for the safe practice of anaesthesia, across Norwegian clinical settings. In this article, we present the 2024 revision of the document. This article presents a direct translation of the complete document from the Norwegian original.