The Bare Minimum: the reality of global anaesthesia and patient safety

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Current guidelines for the provision of safe anaesthesia from the World Health Organization and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) are unachievable in a majority of low and middle-income countries (LMICs) worldwide.</p> <p><strong>Methods:</strong> Current guidelines for anaesthesia and patient safety provisions from the WHO and WFSA are compared with local ability to achieve these recommendations in LMICs.</p> <p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Influential international organizations have historically published anaesthesia guidelines, but for the most part, without impacting substantial documentable changes or outcomes in low-income environments. This analysis, and subsequent recommendations, reviews the effectiveness of existing strategies for international guidelines, and proposes practical, step-wise implementation of patient safety approaches for LMICs.</p>