American Society of Anesthesiologists Staging

In 1963, the American Society of Anesthesiologists instituted a system to assess a patient's physical health status and clinical risk during anesthetic administration and surgical operation. Pre-operatively, the patient is subjectively assigned a score according to their physical status, which is determined by the anesthesiologist after considering the patient's presentation, history, and functional limitations. Assigning this score, ranked ASA I through ASA VI, would thereby attempt to categorize the patient's risk of perioperative complications based on their physical status and overall health. Patients assigned to higher numerical categories have an increased risk of perioperative adverse events. The goal of creating the ASA Physical Status Classification System (ASA-PS) was to improve patient outcomes and predict perioperative risk. Despite its setbacks, it has since become a standard practice during perioperative encounters and plays a key role in preventative medicine associated with anesthesia.