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Factors associated with maternal satisfaction of anesthetic management during labour and delivery are poorly known. The purpose of this study was to assess these factors. We performed a retrospective cohort study on parturients admitted between January 2004 and December 2008. Data on patients’ demographics, comorbidities, procedures performed and various aspects of their anesthetic experience were retrieved from the anesthetic records. Maternal satisfaction was measured using a numerical scale from 0 to 10 (0 = not satisfied at all, 10 = very satisfied). A cutoff of ≤ 6 was taken as poor satisfaction. We performed a multivariate analysis to identify the different predictors of maternal satisfaction and more specifically those related to pain, overall experience with the technique, delays, and presence of anesthetic, obstetrical and neonatal complications. There were 15,386 parturients admitted during the study period. Of these, 10,034 had complete information in the chart and 761 (7.6%) parturients were dissatisfied with their anesthetic care. Factors decreasing patient satisfaction were high risk pregnancy [odds ratio (OR) 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.59 (0.34-1.02)] and difficult delivery [OR (95% CI) 0.62 (0.52-0.74)]. Pain, a negative experience of the procedure, delays, poor coordination in management, and the presence of complications decreased patient satisfaction [OR (95% CI) 0.07 to 0.71]; P

INTRODUCTION: Critical incident reporting and observational studies have identified nontechnical skills that are vital to successful anesthesia crisis management. Examples of such skills include task management, team working, situation awareness and decision making. These qualities are not necessarily acquired through clinical experience and may need to be specifically taught. This study uses a high fidelity patient simulator to assess the effect of repeated exposure to simulated anesthesia crises on the non-technical skills of anesthesia residents. No published studies have addressed this issue.

INTRODUCTION: Anesthesiologists increasingly regard realistic patient simulators as invaluable educational and research tools for the study of human performance. However, their use in the assessment of residents’ performance and competence is controversial. Concerns regarding the reliability, the validity, and the “added value” of simulator-based examinations over traditional examinations have not been adequately addressed (1). The present study investigated the potential for assessing clinical performance of senior anesthesia residents with a simulator as compared with the traditional oral examination.