Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2002
The use of a human patient simulator in the evaluation of and development of a remedial prescription for an anesthesiologist with lapsed medical skills.
The New York State Society of Anesthesiologists' Committee on Continuing Medical Education and Remediation has been charged by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct of the New York State Department of Health to develop a remediation program for individuals ordered into retraining. We describe the development of an anesthesiology-specific evaluation to identify areas of deficiency to both determine a candidate's suitability, as well as to facilitate the creation of an appropriate prescription for retraining. ⋯ Specifically, the use of simulation allowed the exploration of a candidate's preparation, approach to clinical situations, technical abilities, response to clinical problems, ability to problem solve, and accuracy of medical record keeping. Human patient simulation should be considered a valuable tool in the process of evaluating physicians with lapsed medical skills.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2002
Case ReportsHuman error: the persisting risk of blood transfusion: a report of five cases.
It is common experience that virus transmission, particularly transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is a principal concern of patients and physicians regarding blood transfusion (1). Many physicians are probably unaware that transfusion-transmitted HIV infection is approximately 50 to 100 times less likely to occur than transfusion error (2-4). This misconception may have been encouraged by the scarcity of reports on transfusion error relative to the tremendous public attention focused on HIV infection. We present five cases illustrating how anesthesiologists, intensivists, and emergency physicians are particularly vulnerable to the risk of administering blood to the wrong recipient. All five cases were collected during a 4-yr period. Transfused units of packed red cells totaled approximately 50,000 U during this period in our department. ⋯ Human error leading to the transfusion of blood to an unintended recipient is a major source of transfusion-related fatalities. We report five cases that highlight some specific areas in which transfusion error is likely to occur.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2002
Physiologic characteristics of cold perfluorocarbon-induced hypothermia during partial liquid ventilation in normal rabbits.
Because perfluorocarbon (PFC) liquid contacts closely with the alveolar capillaries during partial liquid ventilation (PLV), PLV with cold PFC may be used for the induction of hypothermia. Twenty rabbits were randomized to PFC-induced hypothermia (PH) (n = 7; core temperature 35 degrees +/- 1 degrees C), surface hypothermia (SH) (n = 7; 35 degrees +/- 1 degrees C), or normothermia (n = 6; 39 degrees +/- 1 degrees C). We induced PH by repeated in situ exchanges of 0 degrees C perfluorodecalin during PLV. At the establishment (0 min) of hypothermia in the PH group, oxygen consumption (P = 0.04) and oxygen extraction ratio (P = 0.01) decreased from normothermic condition. Metabolic (oxygen consumption, oxygen extraction ratio, serum lactate level) and hemodynamic variables (heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output, pulmonary artery pressure) of the PH group were not different from those of the SH group at 0, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min of hypothermia. The difference in temperature between the pulmonary artery and rectum during the hypothermic period was smaller in the PH group compared with the SH group (P = 0.033). In conclusion, hypothermia may be induced during PLV by using cold PFC. This "pulmonary method" of cooling was comparable to a systemic method of cooling with regard to a few important physiologic variables, while maintaining a narrower interorgan temperature difference. ⋯ The induction of moderate hypothermia was feasible in rabbits by administrating cold perfluorocarbon liquid into the lung. Physiologic changes induced by this pulmonary cooling were comparable to those induced by systemic cooling. Our method may be regarded as a methodological advance in the field of therapeutic hypothermia.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2002
Bispectral index values and spectral edge frequency at different stages of physiologic sleep.
Bispectral index (BIS) and spectral edge frequency (SEF) are used as measures of depth of anesthesia and sedation. We tested whether these signals could predict physiologic sleep stages, by taking processed electroencephalogram measurements and recording full polysomnography through a night's sleep in 10 subjects being investigated for mild sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome. Computerized polysomnograph signals were analyzed manually according to standard criteria, classifying each 30-s epoch as a specific sleep stage. The BIS and SEF values were taken at the end of each period of sleep when the same stage had lasted for at least 2 min. Before sleep, median values for BIS were 97 +/- 12.1 and for SEF 23 +/- 4.2 Hz. After sleep initiation, the median BIS values for arousal, light, slow wave, and rapid eye movement sleep were 67 +/- 20.2, 50 +/- 16.5, 42 +/- 11.2, and 48 +/- 7.1, respectively, and the median SEF values were 20 +/- 4.7, 15 +/- 3.6, 10 +/- 2.6, and 19 +/- 4.1 Hz, respectively. Although both BIS and SEF decreased with increasing sleep depth, the distribution of values at each sleep depth was considerable, with overlap between each sleep stage. Neither BIS nor SEF reliably indicated conventionally determined sleep stages. In addition, the response of the BIS was slow and patients could arouse with low BIS values, which then took some time to increase. ⋯ Although computer processing of the electroencephalogram can provide an adequate index of depth of anesthesia, the same processing cannot reliably convey depth of natural sleep. At each sleep stage, the output signal has a wide range of possible values.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2002
Comment Letter Case ReportsAnother cause of epidural catheter breakage?