Where are the anesthesia start and stop times documented?

The documentation of anesthesia start and stop times is crucial for accurately tracking the duration of anesthesia administration, ensuring patient safety, and providing information for billing and coding purposes. The anesthesia record serves as a comprehensive account of the anesthesia services provided to a patient during a surgical procedure. It is specifically designed to include vital information such as the start and stop times of anesthesia, the type of anesthesia administered, medications used, and the patient's vital signs throughout the procedure.

This detailed documentation helps not only in clinical decision-making and continuity of care but also is essential during audits and for verifying the accuracy of billing for anesthesia services.

While other records, such as the surgical log and medical chart, may contain relevant information about the patient and procedure, they are not as specifically focused on the intricacies of anesthesia management as the anesthesia record. The billing record may include payment and charge details but does not capture the necessary clinical data that the anesthesia record does.