Standardization of Anaesthesia Ready Time and reasons of delay in induction of anaesthesia.

Objective: Anaesthesia-Ready Time (ART) is the time taken by the anaesthetist to provide sufficient anaesthetic depth for start of surgery. Our aim was to set benchmark timings for ART and compare it with our current practice.

Methods: Benchmark ART time of 15 minutes was set for American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I and II patients, 30 minutes for ASA III and IV patients, 20 minutes for spinal and 30 minutes for epidural anaesthesia.