Anesthetic Equipment and Safety Flashcards

Macro-shock in a clinical setting refers to electrical current passing through which pathway?

Answer: Through the body surface from hand to hand or hand to foot

Macro-shock is externally applied current flowing across the body surface (e.g., hand to hand), requiring relatively larger currents (>100 mA) to cause ventricular fibrillation.

During the pre-use check of an anesthesia machine, the low-pressure system leak test is performed to assess integrity of:

Answer: Flowmeters, vaporizers, and breathing circuit up to the common gas outlet

The low-pressure system leak test checks for leaks between the flowmeters, vaporizer, and common gas outlet — the portion carrying agent-laden gas at low pressure.

What is the minimum fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) that a modern anesthesia machine must be able to deliver according to safety standards?

Answer: 0.21

Safety standards require anesthesia machines to deliver a minimum FiO2 of 0.21 (room air equivalent) to prevent delivery of a hypoxic mixture.

Which type of fire triangle element is represented by nitrous oxide in the context of operating room fires?

Answer: Oxidizer

Nitrous oxide is an oxidizing agent that supports and accelerates combustion, functioning as an oxidizer in the fire triangle alongside oxygen.

Pulse oximetry can give falsely HIGH oxygen saturation readings in the presence of which condition?

Answer: Carboxyhemoglobin poisoning

Carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) absorbs light similarly to oxyhemoglobin at 660 nm, causing standard two-wavelength pulse oximeters to read falsely high SpO2.

Which gas monitoring principle is most commonly used in mainstream and sidestream anesthetic gas analyzers to measure volatile agent concentrations?

Answer: Infrared absorption spectroscopy

Infrared absorption spectroscopy is used to measure volatile anesthetic agents and CO2 because polyatomic molecules absorb specific infrared wavelengths.