Anesthesia information management systems.

Purpose Of Review: This review will summarize and comment upon recent developments in the evolution and implementation of anesthesia information management systems (AIMS) in current practice.

Recent Findings: Availability of inexpensive hardware components has greatly reduced costs, and AIMS are now widely available as 'off-the-shelf' software systems, yet AIMS are currently in use in only a minority of institutions and anesthetic practices. AIMS have evolved rapidly from simple automated record-keeping systems to key components of modern medical information networks. The databases generated by AIMS are becoming the basis for establishing 'best practices' and for comparing patient care outcomes.

Summary: The searchable, timed, and dated perioperative documentation generated by an AIMS appears to be an evolving requirement for contemporary anesthetic practice. The obstacles to more widespread AIMS adoption appear to be behavioral and financial rather than technical.