Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2018
ReviewAvoiding Complications From Patient Positioning for Intraocular Surgery.
Collaboration of the surgical and anesthesia teams for patient positioning is essential to assure patient comfort and safety, preventing systemic and ophthalmic complications. The goals and rationales of positioning for intraocular surgery are discussed including placing the head above the heart, elevating the chin, using a head rest that is sufficiently firm, maximizing anesthesia care team access and minimizing fire risk, and taping the patient's head to the operating table to reduce unexpected movement with intraocular injury.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2018
Review Meta AnalysisIntravenous Iron for Treatment of Anemia in the 3 Perisurgical Phases: A Review and Analysis of the Current Literature.
Anemia is a common comorbidity throughout the entire hospital stay. Treatment options include intravenous (IV) iron, oral iron, erythropoietin, and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions. IV iron has gained in popularity with the implementation of patient blood management programs. ⋯ Published RCTs in the postoperative setting have shown positive effects of IV iron on Hb levels, length of hospital stay, and transfusion requirements. Some studies demonstrated an increase of Hb of 0.5-1 g/dL over 4 weeks postoperatively, but the clinical relevance and effect of this increase on an improvement of patient's long-term outcomes are uncertain. To summarize, the evidence to use IV iron is strongest in the preoperative setting, while it remains an individual treatment decision to administer IV iron perioperatively or postoperatively.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2018
ReviewPostpartum Tubal Sterilization: Making the Case for Urgency.
The parturient who requests postpartum sterilization has given consideration to and has made decisions regarding this aspect of her medical care long before her delivery. She arrives at parturition expecting the postpartum procedure to be performed as intended. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has reaffirmed its opinion that postpartum sterilization is an urgent procedure, owing to the safety and superior effectiveness of tubal sterilization via minilaparotomy in the immediate postpartum period, and the adverse consequences for mothers, babies, and society when the procedure is not actualized as desired and intended. ⋯ Reasons for failure to complete abound and include inadequate resources or inavailability of necessary personnel; obstetrician reluctance due to concerns for patient regret in younger women or medical comorbidities; barriers related to provision of obstetric care in a religiously affiliated hospital, or incomplete, improperly completed, or unavailable original federal consent forms among Medicaid-insured women. The federal requirement to wait 30 days after signing informed consent, and to retain the original signed document to be physically verified at time of the procedure, serves as a significant source of health care disparity for Medicaid-dependent mothers. This article reviews these larger issues of maternal health and comprehensive maternal care to broaden the anesthesiologist's appreciation of major benefits and potential risks of postpartum sterilization, including long-term effects, to promote an evidence-based, informed, and proactive role in delivering equitable, safe, and optimal care for these patients.
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Infusion systems are complicated electromechanical systems that are used to deliver anesthetic drugs with moderate precision. Four types of systems are described-gravity feed, in-line piston, peristaltic, and syringe. ⋯ A brief example of the use of an infusion system during anesthetic induction is presented. With understanding of the functioning of these systems, users may develop greater comfort.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Apr 2018
ReviewFatigue Risk Management: The Impact of Anesthesiology Residents' Work Schedules on Job Performance and a Review of Potential Countermeasures.
Long duty periods and overnight call shifts impair physicians' performance on measures of vigilance, psychomotor functioning, alertness, and mood. Anesthesiology residents typically work between 64 and 70 hours per week and are often required to work 24 hours or overnight shifts, sometimes taking call every third night. Mitigating the effects of sleep loss, circadian misalignment, and sleep inertia requires an understanding of the relationship among work schedules, fatigue, and job performance. ⋯ We then propose countermeasures that have been implemented to mitigate the effects of fatigue and describe how training programs or practice groups who must work overnight can adapt these strategies for use in a hospital setting. Countermeasures include the use of scheduling interventions, strategic naps, microbreaks, caffeine use during overnight and extended shifts, and the use of bright lights in the clinical setting when possible or personal blue light devices when the room lights must be turned off. Although this review focuses primarily on anesthesiology residents in training, many of the mitigation strategies described here can be used effectively by physicians in practice.