When Can the Recovery Process Be Delegated to Staff?

As dentist sedation and general anesthesia (GA) providers, we spend a tremendous amount of time and effort preparing for intraoperative anesthetic emergencies. We all know that airway problems are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the dental office. So, we focus on these events. We have checklists. We have simulation. We have mandated continuing education in sedation and GA with a focus on preventing and managing emergencies. We have Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), and Basic Life Support (BLS). Recently, however, there have been a small number of adverse anesthetic events that have occurred, not intraoperatively, but during recovery under supervision by support personnel