Too much transparency is too bad!!

Akshaya N. Shetti

Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology & Critical Care, RMC, PIMS, Loni (Bk), Maharashtra-413736 (India); Phone: 7507807673; E-mail: aksnsdr@gmail.com

Shetti AN. Too much transparency is too bad!!

Sir,

One of the key components in anesthesia delivery system is face mask. The anatomical face mask is also called as face piece and is designed to fit the contour of patient face and deliver the anesthetic gases. Wide ranges of masks are available in the market. Different varieties of masks have been evolved after understanding the difficulties of typical anatomical face mask.^[1]Truly speaking these masks are typical anatomical masks with some modification to overcome the problem.^[2]Transparent mask is one of the innovative ideas which are developed with the main intention of identification of patient condition viz, bleeding from the mouth, vomitus or oral secretions and cyanosis. The transparent mask though it has many advantages it is not free from disadvantages. Iatrogenic injury to patient due to use of damaged masks and or infections are common. Hence maximum care should be taken to prevent these. ^[2]In this report we share our experience.

A transparent silicon mask was fallen on the ground accidentally while shifting the patient from operation table to transportation trolley. Surprisingly it was not noticed by any one, as the attending anesthesiologist and attendants were busy in shifting the patient. While doing the anesthesia machine check for next case we could notice the face mask was missing. After 15minutes of search and close look in operation theatre we could identify the mask as it was fallen on the ground. The silicon transparent mask and the floor color were almost similar (Figure 1) and hence it was very difficult to identify with distance. The face mask consists of three parts namely, body, mount and the edge. We recommend the masks with either colored rim or colored mount (Figure 2 & 3) so that mask can be easily identified.

References

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