Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2016
Perioperative Supplemental Oxygen Does Not Worsen Long-Term Mortality of Colorectal Surgery Patients.
A follow-up analysis from a large trial of oxygen and surgical-site infections reported increased long-term mortality among patients receiving supplemental oxygen, especially those having cancer surgery. Although concerning, there is no obvious mechanism linking oxygen to long-term mortality. We thus tested the hypothesis that supplemental oxygen does not increase long-term mortality in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. Secondarily, we evaluated whether the effect of supplemental oxygen on mortality depended on cancer status. ⋯ In contrast to the only previous publication, we found that supplemental oxygen had no influence on long-term mortality in the overall surgical population or in patients having cancer surgery.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2016
Comparative StudyControlled Substance Reconciliation Accuracy Improvement Using Near Real-Time Drug Transaction Capture from Automated Dispensing Cabinets.
Accurate accounting of controlled drug transactions by inpatient hospital pharmacies is a requirement in the United States under the Controlled Substances Act. At many hospitals, manual distribution of controlled substances from pharmacies is being replaced by automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) at the point of care. Despite the promise of improved accountability, a high prevalence (15%) of controlled substance discrepancies between ADC records and anesthesia information management systems (AIMS) has been published, with a similar incidence (15.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 15.3% to 16.2%) noted at our institution. Most reconciliation errors are clerical. In this study, we describe a method to capture drug transactions in near real-time from our ADCs, compare them with documentation in our AIMS, and evaluate subsequent improvement in reconciliation accuracy. ⋯ The near real-time system for the capture of transactional data flowing over the hospital network was highly accurate, reliable, and exhibited acceptable latency. This methodology can be used to implement similar data capture for transactions from their drug ADCs. Reconciliation accuracy improved significantly as a result of implementation. Our approach may be of particular utility at facilities with limited pharmacy resources to audit anesthesia records for controlled substance administration and reconcile them against dispensing records.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2016
Written Comments Made by Anesthesia Residents When Providing Below Average Scores for the Supervision Provided by the Faculty Anesthesiologist.
Anesthesia residents in our department evaluate the supervision provided by the faculty anesthesiologist with whom they worked the previous day. What advice managers can best provide to the faculty who receive below-average supervision scores is unknown. ⋯ A faculty who has insufficient presence cannot be providing good teaching. Furthermore, there was negligible correlation between supervision scores and faculty clinical assignments. Thus, insufficient faculty presence accounted for a small proportion of below-average supervision scores and low-quality supervision. Furthermore, scores ≥3 have a predictive value for the absence of disrespectful behavior ≅99%. Approximately 94% of the faculty supervision scores that were below average were still ≥3. Consequently, for the vast majority of the faculty-resident-days, quality of teaching distinguished between below- versus above-average supervision scores. This result is consistent with our prior finding of a strong correlation between 6-month supervision scores and assessments of teaching effectiveness. Taken together, when individual faculty anesthesiologists are counseled about their clinical supervision scores, the attribute to emphasize is quality of clinical teaching.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2016
ReviewThe Risks to Patient Privacy from Publishing Data from Clinical Anesthesia Studies.
In this article, we consider the privacy implications of posting data from small, randomized trials, observational studies, or case series in anesthesia from a few (e.g., 1-3) hospitals. Prior to publishing such data as supplemental digital content, the authors remove attributes that could be used to re-identify individuals, a process known as "anonymization." Posting health information that has been properly "de-identified" is assumed to pose no risks to patient privacy. Yet, computer scientists have demonstrated that this assumption is flawed. ⋯ For a patient selected uniformly at random, the probability that an adversary could match this patient's record to a unique record in the state external database was 42.8% (SE < 0.1%). Despite the 42.8% being an unacceptably high level of risk, it underestimates the risk for patients from smaller states or provinces. We propose an editorial policy that greatly reduces the likelihood of a privacy breach, while supporting the goal of transparency of the research process.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jun 2016
The Effect of "Opt-Out" Regulation on Access to Surgical Care for Urgent Cases in the United States: Evidence from the National Inpatient Sample.
In 2001, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a rule permitting states to "opt-out" of federal regulations requiring physician supervision of nurse anesthetists. We examined the extent to which this rule increased access to anesthesia care for urgent cases. ⋯ Based on 2 measures of access, opt-out does not appear to have significantly increased access to anesthesia for urgent inpatient conditions.