Our Guest Speaker on Wednesday 1 June 2022

Alan Merry

Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland

Safety in Anaesthesia

If you need a surgical operation in New Zealand (NZ), you may have a mental image of going to “go to sleep” for this to happen. In fact, in NZ, your chances of something going wrong are amongst the lowest in the world. Nevertheless, anaesthesia is not sleep (consider what would happen if someone stuck a knife into you while you were asleep in your home at night) and it does carry some risk, even with perfect care. Also, errors sometimes do occur.

Alan Merry is a Professor of Anaesthesiology at the University of Auckland. He has recently retired from clinical practice. His previous roles include Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland and Chair of the Board of the NZ Health Quality and Safety Commission. He is on the Board of Lifebox , an international charity which aims to improve standards of anaesthesia and surgical care in low-income areas of the world. His books, book chapters and papers in peer-reviewed journals reflect interests in human factors, patient safety, global health and simulation. He is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Alan will explain what anaesthesia really is. He will discuss the meaning of “safety” in the context of undergoing a medium or major surgical procedure under anaesthesia. And he will contrast the situation in New Zealand with that faced by most of the world’s population when they need surgery.