Anesthesia and analgesia
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The Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) was chartered in 2008 by the American Society of Anesthesiologists to develop the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR). In this Technical Communication, we will describe how data enter NACOR, how they are authenticated, and how they are analyzed and reported. NACOR accepts case-level administrative, clinical, and quality capture data from voluntarily participating anesthesia practices and health care facilities in the United States. ⋯ The database server of AQI, which houses the NACOR database, is protected by 2 firewalls within the American Society of Anesthesiologists' network infrastructure; this system has not been breached. The NACOR Participant User File, a deidentified case-level dataset of information from NACOR, is available to researchers at participating institutions. NACOR architecture and the nature of the Participant User File include both strengths and weaknesses.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2015
Review Case ReportsObstetric Neuraxial Drug Administration Errors: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analytical Review.
A systematic review of 29 published cases of neuraxial obstetric drug errors, including four maternal deaths related to inadvertent intrathecall tranexamic acid.
What’s the first warning sign of an intrathecal drug error?
Block failure was the most frequent reported complication.
What were the most common human factors causing the errors?
- Similar drug ampoule appearance.
- Drug storage problems.
Any recommendations to reduce the risk of drug errors?
- Carefully read the ampoule before drawing up, and the syringe label before administering.
- Label syringes!
- Check labels with a second person or a device.
- Use non–luer lock connectors on all neuraxial catheters & devices.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2015
Review Meta AnalysisSystematic Reviews of Anesthesiologic Interventions Reported as Statistically Significant: Problems with Power, Precision, and Type 1 Error Protection.
The GRADE Working Group assessment of the quality of evidence is being used increasingly to inform clinical decisions and guidelines. The assessment involves explicit consideration of all sources of uncertainty. One of these sources is imprecision or random error. Many published meta-analyses are underpowered and likely to be updated in the future. When data are sparse and there are repeated updates, the risk of random error is increased. Trial Sequential Analysis (TSA) is one of several methodologies that estimates this increased risk (and decreased precision) in meta-analyses. With nominally statistically significant meta-analyses of anesthesiologic interventions, we used TSA to estimate power and imprecision in the context of sparse data and repeated updates. ⋯ Most nominally statistically significant meta-analyses of anesthesiologic interventions are underpowered, and many do not maintain their risk of type 1 error <5% if TSA monitoring boundaries are applied. Consideration of the effect of sparse data and repeated updates is needed when assessing the imprecision of meta-analyses of anesthesiologic interventions.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Dec 2015
Meta AnalysisPreoperative Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution for Minimizing Allogeneic Blood Transfusion: A Meta-Analysis.
Previous studies have evaluated the efficacy of preoperative acute normovolemic hemodilution (PANH) in reducing the need for allogeneic blood transfusion. However, the results to date have been controversial. In this study, we sought to reassess the efficacy and safety of PANH based on newly emerging evidence. ⋯ Although these results suggest that PANH is effective in reducing allogeneic blood transfusion, we identified significant heterogeneity and publication bias, which raises concerns about the true efficacy of PANH.