Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2014
Anesthesia Information Management System-Based Near Real-Time Decision Support to Manage Intraoperative Hypotension and Hypertension.
Intraoperative hypotension and hypertension are associated with adverse clinical outcomes and morbidity. Clinical decision support mediated through an anesthesia information management system (AIMS) has been shown to improve quality of care. We hypothesized that an AIMS-based clinical decision support system could be used to improve management of intraoperative hypotension and hypertension. ⋯ With automatic acquisition of arterial blood pressure and inhaled drug concentration variables in an AIMS, near real-time notification was effective in reducing the duration and frequency of hypotension with concurrent >1.25 MAC inhaled drug episodes. However, since phenylephrine infusion is manually documented in an AIMS, the impact of notification messages was less pronounced in reducing episodes of hypertension with concurrent phenylephrine infusion. Automated data capture and a higher frequency of data acquisition in an AIMS can improve the effectiveness of an intraoperative clinical decision support system.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2014
ReviewNitrous oxide for the management of labor pain: a systematic review.
Studies assessing the efficacy and safety of nitrous oxide analgesia during labour are generally of poor quality making it difficult to make any conclusions about this intervention.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialAcademic Productivity of Directors of ACGME-Accredited Residency Programs in Surgery and Anesthesiology.
Scholarly activity is expected of program directors of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited residency training programs. Anesthesiology residency programs are cited more often than surgical programs for deficiencies in academic productivity. We hypothesized that this may in part reflect differences in scholarly activity between program directors of anesthesiology and surgical trainings programs. To test the hypothesis, we examined the career track record of current program directors of ACGME-accredited anesthesiology and surgical residency programs at the same institutions using PubMed citations and funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as metrics of scholarly activity. ⋯ Program directors of anesthesiology residency programs have considerably less scholarly activity in terms of peer-reviewed publications and federal research funding than directors of surgical residency programs. As such, this study provides further evidence for a systemic weakness in the scholarly fabric of academic anesthesiology.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2014
Editorial CommentAnesthesia scholarship, research, and publication.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jan 2014
Serum Free Ropivacaine Concentrations Among Patients Receiving Continuous Peripheral Nerve Block Catheters: Is it Safe for Long-Term Infusions?
Ropivacaine is a long-acting local anesthetic used for continuous peripheral nerve catheter infusions. Catheters may remain in situ for prolonged time periods. In the present study, patients were enrolled to receive continuous peripheral nerve catheters with measurement of free serum ropivacaine concentrations. ⋯ In this study, free serum ropivacaine concentrations remained well below toxic values despite large amounts of drug administration in combat-wounded patients. The administration of continuous ropivacaine infusions over prolonged time periods, coupled with multiple drug boluses, did not produce toxic or near-toxic serum concentrations.