What Happens When Your Patient Experiences Anaphylaxis in the OR?

My last case of the day began like all the others. The anesthesia team and I performed the anesthesia time out and confirmed the patient’s allergies. While preparing her for induction, we informed her of what we were doing and why and chatted about her grandchildren. After induction, we performed all the usual tasks of positioning, prepping, and counting, but as the scrub nurse began draping, the patient’s initial hypertension gave way to pressures reading 90/50, then 75/23, and she became bradycardic.