There is a monitor for the patient's temperature. Its probe will be positioned in the patient's esophagus. Another instrument, a pulse oximeter, calculates and displays the oxygen content in the blood through a sensor placed on a finger or clipped to an earlobe. A capnograph will measure exhaled carbon dioxide. It will warn if the patient is not ventilating adequately as well as give an immediate indication of accidental disconnection of breathing tubes.
Poles are in place to support bottles filled with intravenous fluids.
Flexible pipes to the wall of the room carry oxygen and nitrous oxide gas to the anesthesia gas machine from a hospital central supply. Backup tanks of the gases are attached to the machine, should the central supply fail. Also nearby is an anesthesia supply cart that contains all necessary drugs, plus the ones the anesthesiologist hopes will not be necessary but keeps ready for an emergency during the operation. The checkout has taken perhaps 15 minutes and ends about the time the patient is wheeled into the operating suite. The resident again takes the patient's vital signs.