Professional documents

Policies (denoted CP) are documents that formally state a principle, plan and/or course of action that is prescriptive and mandatory.

Position statements (denoted PS) are documents that describe where the college stands on a particular issue. This may include areas that lack clarity or where opinions vary. A position statement is not definitive, prescriptive or binding.

Guidelines (denoted PG) are documents that offer advice on a particular subject, that:

• Are ideally based on best practice recommendations and information.
• May be based on available evidence and/or expert consensus.
• Are not prescriptive.

The following professional documents have been withdrawn:

• PS01 Recommendations on essential training for rural general practitioners in Australia proposing to administer anaesthesia.
• PG12(POM) Guideline on smoking as related to the perioperative period.
• PG37(A) Guideline for health practitioners administering local anaesthesia.
• PS38 Statement relating to the relief of pain and suffering and end of life decisions.
• PS44 Guidelines to fellows acting on appointments committees for senior staff in anaesthesia.

These statements undergo a deliberative process within the college committee structure and require approval by the oversight committee, or the ANZCA Council, prior to publication.

We have contributed to or endorsed a selection of guidelines and statements developed by other organisations.

Guidelines developed by external organisations on aspects of the practice of anaesthesia, perioperative medicine and/or pain medicine that have been formally endorsed by the ANZCA Council are listed below. 

FPM policies, standards, position statements and guidelines that have been endorsed by the FPM Board are listed below.

Acute Anaphylaxis Clinical Care Standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare and endorsed by ANZCA.
Note: this Standard covers management of anaphylaxis outside the operating theatre or intensive care unit (ICU). For management of anaphylaxis inside theatre or ICU, please refer to ANZAAG Anaphylaxis Management Guidelines.

Advisory statement on the storage of propofol in clinical settings
Jointly developed with the Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand and the Ministry of Health.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Clinical Care Standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare and endorsed by ANZCA.

ANZAAG and ANZCA Perioperative Anaphylaxis Management Guideline
Management and diagnosis cards jointly developed with ANZCA.
Guideline | Background Paper | Adult Immediate | Paediatric Immediate | Adult Refractory | Paediatric Refractory | Differential Diagnosis | Post Crisis Management

Australian open disclosure framework
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Best practice guide for continuous practice improvement
Developed by the Council of Medical Colleges of New Zealand.

Call for Australia's ratification of the OPCAT
Supported by ANZCA.

Central line insertion and maintenance guideline
Developed by the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society.

Colonoscopy clinical care standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Under review in 2024, new edition TBA.

Delirium clinical care standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Epidural anaesthesia
Joint statement by the ANZCA President Dr Vanessa Beavis and RANZCOG President Dr Vijay Roach.

Factsheet: Identification of neural route medicines, fluids and lines
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Guideline for providers of liposuction (Victoria)
Developed by the Victorian Department of Health.

Guidelines for the management of postoperative nausea and vomiting
Developed by the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia.

A joint statement supporting user-applied labelling standardisation for all injectable medicines and fluids
Joint statement of ANZCA and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. 

Low back pain clinical care standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and endorsed by the Faculty of Pain Medicine.

Malignant hyperthermia resource kit
Developed by Malignant Hyperthermia Australia and New Zealand.

Management of Peripheral Intravenous Catheters Clinical Care Standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

National standard for user-applied labelling of injectable medicines, fluids and lines
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. 

Neural connector devices to reduce misconnection errors – advice for every anaesthetist and pain medicine practitioner
Developed by ANZCA.

Neural connector devices to reduce misconnection errors – guidelines for implementation in Australia
Jointly developed with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

OSSIE guide to clinical handover improvement
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Osteoarthritis of the knee clinical care standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Patient blood management guidelines
Developed by the National Blood Authority.

Perioperative anaphylaxis management guidelines 
Jointly developed with the Australian and New Zealand Anaesthetic Allergy Group.

Perioperative Diabetes and Hyperglycaemia Guidelines (Adults)
Jointly developed with the Australian Diabetes Association.

Periprocedural Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) with SGLT2 Inhibitor Use in People with Diabetes
Jointly developed with the Australian Diabetes Association.

Periprocedural GLP-1 use consensus - clinical guide
ANZCA, along with peak diabetes, obesity and gastroenterological bodies, has produced clinical practice recommendations for patients using GLP-1/GIP receptor agonists.

Position paper on day surgery in Australia
Jointly developed with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons.

Reusable surgical gowns position statement
Developed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Sepsis Clinical Care Standard
Developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Standards for resuscitation: clinical practice and education
Jointly developed by the Australian Resuscitation Council and the New Zealand Resuscitation Council.

Position statement on the provision of obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia services
Jointly developed with Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Trauma Verification Program Model Resource Criteria
Developed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Trauma Verification Committee.

Topical application of chlorhexidine and risks of accidental injection in regional anaesthesia and vascular access procedures
Jointly developed with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.