Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2023
A Systematic Review on Long-Term Postsurgical Pain Outcomes; What Is the Effect of Upper Extremity Regional Anesthesia?
Chronic pain is a recognized complication of surgery, and it has been hypothesized that regional anesthesia might reduce the risk of development of chronic pain after upper extremity surgery. ⋯ The results of this review indicate that upper extremity regional anesthesia, compared to general anesthesia, is unlikely to change pain intensity at >3 months postoperatively.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2023
Impact of Genetic Variants on Postoperative Pain and Fentanyl Dose Requirement in Patients Undergoing Major Breast Surgery: A Candidate Gene Association Study.
Postoperative analgesia is crucial for the early and effective recovery of patients undergoing surgery. Although postoperative multimodal analgesia is widely practiced, opioids such as fentanyl are still one of the best analgesics. The analgesic response of fentanyl varies widely among individuals, probably due to genetic and nongenetic factors. Among genetic factors, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may influence its analgesic response by altering the structure or function of genes involved in nociceptive, fentanyl pharmacodynamic, and pharmacokinetic pathways. Thus, it is necessary to comprehensively ascertain if the SNPs present in the aforementioned pathways are associated with interindividual differences in fentanyl requirement. In this study, we evaluated the association between 10 candidate SNPs in 9 genes and 24-hour postoperative fentanyl dose (primary outcome) and also with postoperative pain scores and time for first analgesia (secondary outcomes). ⋯ The SNP opioid receptor mu-1 ( OPRM1 ) (rs1799971) was associated with higher postoperative fentanyl requirement in South Indian patients undergoing major breast surgery. Twenty-four hour postoperative pain scores were higher in catechol-O-methyl transferase ( COMT ) (rs4680) carriers and lower in ATP binding cassette subfamily B member 1 ( ABCB1 ) (rs1045642) carriers, whereas time for first analgesic was lower in potassium channel subunit 1 ( KCNS1 ) (rs734784) carriers. However, these exploratory findings must be confirmed in a larger study.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2023
Determinants of Professional Fulfillment and Burnout Among Intensivists: A National Survey by the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists in 2022.
Increased burnout and decreased professional fulfillment among intensive care physicians is partly due to intensive care unit (ICU) workload. Although the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic increased ICU workload, it also may have increased feelings of personal fulfillment due to positive public perceptions of physicians caring for COVID patients. We surveyed critical care anesthesiologists to identify the effect of provider demographics, ICU workload, and COVID-19-related workload, on professional fulfillment and burnout. ⋯ Professional fulfillment and work exhaustion in this cross-sectional survey were associated with several demographic and practice characteristics but not COVID-19-related workload, suggesting that COVID-19 workload may not have either positive or negative perceptions on professional fulfillment.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2023
Comparative StudyRacial Disparities in Compensation Among US Anesthesiologists: Results of a National Survey of Anesthesiologists.
A racial compensation disparity among physicians across numerous specialties is well documented and persists after adjustment for age, sex, experience, work hours, productivity, academic rank, and practice structure. This study examined national survey data to determine whether there are racial differences in compensation among anesthesiologists in the United States. ⋯ Compensation for anesthesiologists showed a significant pay disparity associated with race and ethnicity even after adjusting for provider and practice characteristics. Our study raises concerns that processes, policies, or biases (either implicit or explicit) persist and may impact compensation for anesthesiologists from racial and ethnic minority populations. This disparity in compensation requires actionable solutions and calls for future studies that investigate contributing factors and to validate our findings given the low response rate.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Aug 2023
Burnout Among Chinese Anesthesiologists After the COVID-19 Pandemic Peak: A National Survey.
Evidence has shown that large-scale pandemics can have prolonged psychological impacts on health care professionals. The current study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of burnout after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic peak and to explore the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on burnout among Chinese anesthesiologists. ⋯ The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the psychological well-being of anesthesiologists still exists more than 1 year after the outbreak. Building better institutional support and cultivating stronger resilience may be helpful future intervention measures.