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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV1083

Variability and documentation of the anaesthetic-to-electroconvulsive therapy time interval (AETI): a prospective quality improvement audit

VARIABILITY AND DOCUMENTATION OF THE ANAESTHETIC-ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY TIME INTERVAL (AETI): A PROSPECTIVE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AUDIT

The interval between anaesthesia and the ECT stimulus (AETI) is not routinely recorded and, when measured prospectively, shows wide variability, ranging from 55 to 440 seconds, with a mean of 162.6 seconds.

The aim of the study was to prospectively measure the anaesthetic-to-electroconvulsive therapy time interval (AETI) in routine clinical practice before introducing standardised documentation, assess timing variability, and establish baseline data. A prospective quality improvement project (QIP) was conducted in the ECT service of a tertiary hospital in Pakistan, with the initial analysis revealing that AETI was not routinely recorded. AETI, waiting time, fasting (nil per os, NPO) duration, and anaesthetic drug doses were recorded during 30 consecutive ECT sessions between November 2025 and January 2026, and descriptive statistical analysis was performed. The evaluation included a total of 30 sessions involving 13 patients with severe mental illness (SMI). The mean AETI was 162.6 seconds (standard deviation 109), with a median of 120 seconds and a range of 55 to 440 seconds; the mean waiting time was 48.1 minutes (standard deviation 36.2), with a median of 35 minutes and a range of 3 to 120 minutes; and the mean NPO duration was 9.5 hours (standard deviation 0.9), with a median of 10 hours and a range of 8 to 11 hours. AETI showed marked variability due to outliers, and its distribution was right-skewed. Most patients received 40 to 50 mg of suxamethonium and 60 to 80 mg of propofol, with no discernible association between drug dose and prolonged AETI on descriptive analysis. The authors note that AETI affects plasma and brain drug concentrations and that longer intervals reduce anticonvulsant effects and improve seizure quality. They recommend establishing a regionally agreed target interval and a shared AETI documentation field, and plan further quality improvement cycles to measure adherence to the standard and reductions in variability.

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