Summary
Background and objective: Recently published guidelines for checking anaesthetic equipment do not contain specific advice on how to check the correct functioning of the capnograph before inducing anaesthesia. Methods: We undertook a postal survey of UK consultant (physician) anaesthetists to establish what methods for checking the capnograph are currently in use. Two hundred and two questionnaires were sent to consultants in different hospitals and 163 returned, a response rate of 81%. Results: 52.1% consultants of check the capnograph themselves. Of these, 55.3% use their own expired breath to confirm a response to carbon dioxide. Other methods used by consultant anaesthetists to check capnograph function include the machine self-test (16.5%), visual checks of the capnograph and sampling tubing (10.3%), and sampling of patient expired carbon dioxide (7.1%). Conclusion: The most common method for testing capnograph function among consultant anaesthetists and their assistants in the UK is the direct measurement of exhaled breath.
