Safe in the first attempt: teaching neonatal airway management

Common error traps in anesthesia for neonatal surgical emergencies

Neonatal surgical emergencies are challenging, often high-risk procedures for the pediatric anesthesiologist. Though each emergency presents different anesthetic challenges, several error traps exist that are common to all procedures in this patient population. These error traps include errors in surgical timing, airway management, maintenance of normothermia and normoglycemia, and recognition of pharmacologic and physiologic differences. In this narrative review, we will discuss each error trap to aid the clinician in recognizing, planning for, and mitigating adverse events.