Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2012
Randomized Controlled TrialPrevention of intravenous bacterial injection from health care provider hands: the importance of catheter design and handling.
Device-related bloodstream infections are associated with a significant increase in patient morbidity and mortality in multiple health care settings. Recently, intraoperative bacterial contamination of conventional open-lumen 3-way stopcock sets has been shown to be associated with increased patient mortality. Intraoperative use of disinfectable, needleless closed catheter devices (DNCCs) may reduce the risk of bacterial injection as compared to conventional open-lumen devices due to an intrinsic barrier to bacterial entry associated with valve design and/or the capacity for surface disinfection. However, the relative benefit of DNCC valve design (intrinsic barrier capacity) as compared to surface disinfection in attenuation of bacterial injection in the clinical environment is untested and entirely unknown. The primary aim of the current study was to investigate the relative efficacy of a novel disinfectable stopcock, the Ultraport zero, with and without disinfection in attenuating intraoperative injection of potential bacterial pathogens as compared to a conventional open-lumen stopcock intravascular device. The secondary aims were to identify risk factors for bacterial injection and to estimate the quantity of bacterial organisms injected during catheter handling. ⋯ The Ultraport zero stopcock with hub disinfection before injection was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of inadvertent bacterial injection as compared to the conventional open-lumen stopcock. Future studies should examine strategies designed to facilitate health care provider DNCC hub disinfection and proper device handling.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2012
ReviewOff-label use of medications in children undergoing sedation and anesthesia.
Many drugs used for anesthesia and analgesia in children are administered "off-label." We undertook an audit of drugs commonly used for pediatric anesthesia to determine which drugs have United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling for pediatric use, which drugs are age-restricted, and which have no labeling for pediatric use. ⋯ Many drugs used for children during anesthesia continue to lack FDA labeling for pediatric use. Off-label use of these drugs is an accepted practice that is considered superior to the alternative of withholding needed medications. Studies are still needed to determine the safety and efficacy of drugs that lack FDA labeling for this vulnerable patient population.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2012
Graphical user interface simplifies infusion pump programming and enhances the ability to detect pump-related faults.
Drug administration errors are frequent and are often associated with the misuse of IV infusion pumps. One source of these errors may be the infusion pump's user interface. ⋯ The number of programming errors and workload were reduced partly because it took less time and fewer keystrokes to program the pump when using the new user interface. Despite minimal training, residents quickly identified preexisting infusion pump problems with the new user interface. Intuitive and easy-to-program infusion pump interfaces may reduce drug administration errors and infusion pump-related adverse events.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Nov 2012
Descriptive study of case scheduling and cancellations within 1 week of the day of surgery.
We performed a descriptive study of operating room (OR) case scheduling within 1 week of the day of surgery. ⋯ Planning anesthesia assignments, ORs to target, etc., can be done productively starting 2 working days ahead of surgery. There are so many changes to the OR schedule those last 2 workdays that anesthesia groups should be engaged with the scheduling office during that period. The primary predictor of additional net hours of cases to be scheduled is the difference between the allocated (i.e., forecasted) OR time and the hours scheduled so far.