Assessment tools help diagnose obstructive sleep apnea Pennsylvania patient safety advisory Wallace, Susan C., author. Diagnostic Tests, Routine Mass Screening Postoperative Complications -- diagnosis Preoperative Care Risk Assessment Sleep Apnea, Obstructive -- complications Sleep Apnea, Obstructive -- diagnosis Surveys and Questionnaires Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder that may first be diagnosed when a surgical patient presents for preadmission testing. OSA is characterized by partial or complete obstruction of the upper airway during sleep and can present significant problems in the perioperative period, including difficult airways, increased sensitivity to anesthetic agents, and postoperative adverse events. Analysis of reports submitted to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority over five years identified 99 OSA-related events. Thirty-three reports were classified as Serious Events associated with patient harm. An article published on OSA and the risk it places on positive postoperative outcomes was presented in the September 2007 issue of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory. The article offered an OSA screening tool to use during preoperative evaluation. Since 2007, additional assessment tools, such as the STOP-Bang questionnaire, have become available to help facilities identify and manage patients at high risk for this condition. [Harrisburg, Pa.] : Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, December 2014 Pennsylvania. Patient Safety Authority, issuing body. ECRI (Organization), issuing body. Institute for Safe Medication Practices, issuing body. Technical Report Text Illustrations 1 online resource (1 PDF file (pages 168-171)) nlm:nlmuid-101648360-pdf 101648360 http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101648360 English Pennsylvania United States Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0