Anaesthesia in rural Queensland: clinical experience with the Flying Obstetric and Gynaecology Service.

The Flying Obstetric and Gynaecology (FOG) service visits 27 outback towns scattered over approximately one million square kilometers of western Queensland. The role and workload of an anaesthetist attached to the FOG Service and a prospective audit of 760 consecutive anaesthetics over a ten-month period are reported. Flying anaesthetists are in an ideal position to review standards of equipment, staffing levels, anaesthetic assistance in theatre as well as participate in both medical and nursing rural training programs. This ensures that deficiencies in anaesthetic related areas are identified and appropriate action taken. The challenge to rural practitioners must be to provide a service, of at least an equivalent standard to that of their metropolitan counterparts.