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Home Safety & Advocacy Safety alerts Misconnections of breathing circuits

Misconnections of breathing circuits

There have been several instances of misconnections involving co-axial breathing circuits where after performance of the “two bag test” (see item 4.2.3.4.3 of PS31 Guideline on checking anaesthesia delivery systems), patients have inadvertently been connected to the bag limb instead of the co-axial circuit limb.

While the standard demands that the bag limb is coloured blue, some co-axial circuits have a blue-lined internal tube which may cause confusion. It is imperative that when using co-axial circuits the patient limb is identified and differentiated from the bag limb prior to removing the bag to ensure that the bag is removed from the co-axial limb and not the bag limb.

Last updated 16:21 12.03.2021

Misconnections of breathing circuits

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