Anesthesiology
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The authors used continuous quality improvement (CQI) program data to investigate trends in quality of anesthesia care associated with changing staffing patterns in a university hospital. ⋯ Most aspects of quality of anesthesia care were apparently not effected by changing anesthesia team composition or increased productivity and concurrency. Only team performance was measured; the role of individuals (attending anesthesiologist, resident, or CRNA) in quality of care was not directly measured. Further research is needed to explain lower patient injury rates and increases in critical incident reporting at higher concurrency and productivity levels.
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Intrathecally administered adenosine receptor agonists have antinociceptive effects in animals, suggesting that intrathecal adenosine might provide analgesia in humans. The authors performed preclinical neurotoxicity studies to define the safety of intrathecally administered adenosine in rats and dogs. ⋯ The current study in rats and dogs failed to provide behavioral or histologic evidence of neurotoxicity from intrathecal administration of adenosine. This provides evidence for the presumption of safety of adenosine in this dose range, and supports phase I safety trials of acute intrathecal adenosine administration in humans.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Intramuscular rocuronium in infants and children: a multicenter study to evaluate tracheal intubating conditions, onset, and duration of action.
This multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized study was done to confirm and extend a pilot study showing that intramuscular rocuronium can provide adequate tracheal intubating conditions in infants (2.5 min) and children (3 min) during halothane anesthesia. ⋯ Intramuscular rocuronium, in the doses and conditions tested, does not consistently provide satisfactory tracheal intubating conditions in infants and children and is not an adequate alternative to intramuscular succinylcholine when rapid intubation is necessary.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Effects of morphine and tramadol on somatic and visceral sensory function and gastrointestinal motility after abdominal surgery.
Chronic nociceptive input induces sensitization and changes in regulatory reflexes in animal models. In humans, postoperative somatic and visceral sensitization and the secondary effects on reflex gut motility are unclear. ⋯ Pain control was equally effective with morphine and tramadol infusions. No somatic or visceral sensitization was evident during morphine and tramadol infusions, but pain tolerance thresholds as markers of antinociception were increased more during morphine infusions. The significant sensitization seen only after morphine discontinuation may be due to convergent visceral input. Gut motility was prolonged significantly by visceral surgery itself and also by morphine.