OR Playbook
The hands-on, “nobody-taught-me-this-in-med-school” survival guide for the anesthesia rotation — setting up the room, drawing up drugs, monitors, moving the patient, lines & fluids, induction, intubation, and extubation. With diagrams.
Setting Up Your OR
The machine check, suction, monitors and airway cart — what to lay out before the patient rolls in.
The Anesthesia Machine & Ventilation Modes
Gas flow, every ventilation mode (VCV, PCV, VG, SIMV, PSVPro), PEEP, recruitment, end-tidal control — and when to use each.
Drawing Up & Labeling Drugs
Which syringe size goes with which drug, the color-code system, and how to label so you never give the wrong thing.
Monitors — What to Attach & In What Order
Pulse ox first. The sequence the ASA standard monitors go on before you induce.
Transferring the Patient (Bed → OR Table)
Align, lock, account for every line, and slide on a count — how to move a patient safely.
IV Lines, De-airing, Fluid Warmer & Pressure Bags
Spiking and priming a bag, getting every bubble out, hanging blood, and running fluids under pressure.
Induction — Putting the Patient to Sleep
Preoxygenate, push the drugs in order, confirm you can mask ventilate, then paralyze.
Intubation
Position, laryngoscopy, passing the tube, confirming placement and securing it.
Extubation
The criteria, the technique, and why coming out can be more dangerous than going in.
Anesthesia Basic Concepts
The types of anesthesia, the components of a general, the stages, MAC, and the 'flying a plane' mental model.
Getting the Most From Your Rotation
How to observe, study, and behave so a new anesthesia rotation actually sticks.
Getting Around the OR
The team, the sterile field, and the unwritten etiquette that gets you invited back.
Vapors & Gases
How volatile anesthetics work, the medical gases, and choosing iso / sevo / des.
IV Drugs — A Field Guide
Induction agents, benzodiazepines, opioids and the non-opioid analgesics, with doses and when to use each.
Paralytics & Reversal
Depolarizing vs non-depolarizing blockers, the twitch monitor, and reversing safely.
Pressors, Antihypertensives & Dilutions
BP = CO × SVR, the adrenoceptors, the common vasoactive drugs, and how to dilute them safely.
Antibiotics & Local Anesthetics
Pre-op antibiotic timing and the local anesthetics — with their toxic doses.
PONV — Prevent & Treat
Who's at risk for post-op nausea/vomiting and the layered plan to prevent it.
Preop Assessment — H&P, ASA & NPO
The anesthesia history & physical, the ASA classification, and NPO rules.
The Airway Exam
Predicting the difficult airway before you ever pick up the blade.
Presenting Your Patient
How to hand off your H&P and plan to your attending — clearly and confidently.
Fluids & Blood Replacement
Crystalloids, colloids, blood products, and the math for maintenance, deficit and losses.
Mask Ventilation & the LMA
The most important airway skill — plus oral/nasal airways and placing an LMA.
Pediatric Airway
Why kids are different, how to size the gear, and the pearls that keep them safe.
On Your Own — Troubleshooting
Stay-calm checklists for the alarms you'll face alone: SpO₂, EtCO₂, PIP, and HR/BP.
Regional Anesthesia — The Basics
Nerve blocks, epidurals, spinals and caudals — what they are and what you'll see.
Obstetric Anesthesia — The Basics
Pregnancy physiology, labor epidurals, and anesthesia for C-section.
A Case From Start to Finish
One worked example that ties the whole Playbook together — a healthy adult for an urgent lap appendectomy.