Anesthesia review for small hospitals: a study focused on intraoperative and postoperative mortality.

: Because small hospitals tend to have few members on their anesthesia services, perform less complicated and less extensive surgical procedures, use relatively straightforward anesthesia regimes, and have low anesthesia complication rates, foci for review may be difficult to identify. A review of intraoperative and postoperative mortality can be a productive approach, however. The authors provide criteria to help small hospitals identify problem areas in the delivery of anesthesia care through mortality review.