Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Observational StudyObservational Study Examining the Association of Baseline Frailty and Postcardiac Surgery Delirium and Cognitive Change.
Frailty is a geriatric syndrome thought to identify the most vulnerable older adults, and morbidity and mortality has been reported to be higher for frail patients after cardiac surgery compared to nonfrail patients. However, the cognitive consequences of frailty after cardiac surgery have not been well described. In this study, we examined the hypothesis that baseline frailty would be associated with postoperative delirium and cognitive change at 1 and 12 months after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Compared to nonfrail patients, both prefrail and frail patients were at higher risk for the primary outcome of delirium after cardiac surgery. Frail patients were also at higher risk for the secondary outcome of greater decline in cognition from baseline to 1 month, but not baseline to 1 year, after surgery.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Segmented Regression and Difference-in-Difference Methods: Assessing the Impact of Systemic Changes in Health Care.
Perioperative investigators and professionals increasingly seek to evaluate whether implementing systematic practice changes improves outcomes compared to a previous routine. Cluster randomized trials are the optimal design to assess a systematic practice change but are often impractical; investigators, therefore, often select a before-after design. In this Statistical Grand Rounds, we first discuss biases inherent in a before-after design, including confounding due to periods being completely separated by time, regression to the mean, the Hawthorne effect, and others. ⋯ Difference-in-difference methods add a concurrent control, enabling yet stronger inference. When done well, the discussed methods permit robust inference on the effect of an intervention, albeit still requiring assumptions and having limitations. Methods are demonstrated using an interrupted time series study in which anesthesiologists took responsibility for an adult medical emergency team from internal medicine physicians in an attempt to improve outcomes.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Observational StudyThe Migration of Caudally Threaded Thoracic Epidural Catheters in Neonates and Infants.
The migration of pediatric thoracic epidural catheters via a thoracic insertion site has been described. We assessed the migration of caudally threaded thoracic epidural catheters in neonates and infants at our institution. ⋯ Epidural catheter migration occurs commonly in neonates and infants. Postoperative imaging is crucial to confirm catheter tip location after epidural catheter placement, as failure to assess catheter migration might result in suboptimal analgesia or other undesirable outcomes.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2019
Innovation in Education Research: Creation of an Education Research Core.
Within academic medical centers, there is increasing interest among physicians to pursue education as a promotion pathway. Many medical schools and universities offer professional development opportunities for these individuals such as workshops and certificate and advanced degree programs. However, there exists a need for a more personalized support for clinician-educators to be successful in educational scholarship in the health care setting. ⋯ This innovation in education demonstrates feasibility at a departmental level to successfully support educational research. We have initiated education meetings with a cohort of core education faculty who are interested in an educational promotion track. We present several metrics that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs similar to this innovation.