Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2018
Historical ArticleUnusual partnerships: The Corfe-McMurdie anaesthetic inhaler of 1918 and the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station.
This World War 1 ether/chloroform vaporiser-inhaler was designed by and made for Captain Anstruther John Corfe by Private Eric Aspinall McMurdie, both of the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station (ACCS), Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC). It has a plaque attached labelled 25 May 1918. ⋯ These included Horlick's Malted Milk bottles, on which he etched measurements for ether and chloroform, and a spent brass artillery shell, which made the heating component of the inhaler. The 2nd ACCS triaged and operated on thousands of troops, and this inhaler is a reflection of the skills and innovative expertise of the staff of the 2nd ACCS which included X-rays to localise foreign bodies, and locally made splints and apparatus to treat trench foot.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2018
Comparative StudyPatients retrieved to intensive care via a dedicated retrieval service do not have increased hospital mortality compared with propensity-matched controls.
This study was performed to estimate the effect of the retrieval process on mortality for patients admitted to a mixed adult intensive care unit (ICU) compared with propensity-matched, non-retrieved controls. Patients retrieved to the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) ICU between 2011 and 2015 were propensity-score matched for age, gender, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) III score and diagnostic group with non-retrieved ICU patients to estimate the average treatment effect of retrieval on hospital mortality. Factors associated with mortality in those retrieved were assessed by multiple logistic regression. ⋯ Time from retrieval team activation to arrival with the patient, rural location, radial distance from the RAH and population size at the retrieval location were not significantly associated with mortality. The hospital mortality for retrieved patients was not significantly different when compared with propensity-matched controls. Mortality in those retrieved was associated with increasing age, APACHE III score and diagnostic category; however, was independent of time from team activation to arrival with the patient.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2018
Biography Historical ArticleProfessor Ross Holland: The Special Committee Investigating Deaths Under Anaesthesia (SCIDUA) and his other contributions to anaesthesia.
As a young anaesthetic trainee in 1959 Ross Holland persuaded the Minister of Health in NSW, Australia, to establish SCIDUA, which by law required compulsory reporting for all deaths occurring during anaesthesia or up to 24 hours after cessation of the anaesthetic. The committee was multidisciplinary and, most importantly, had statutory privilege so that no discussions or findings were able to be subpoenaed for other legal investigations or case law. Holland was the foundation secretary of SCIDUA and later Chair. ⋯ He also served an important term as Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons prior to that Faculty becoming independent as the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA). Professor Holland received many accolades for these activities during his life, which are noted. It is fitting to recognise his seminal contributions to patient safety over more than 50 years.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2018
Biography Historical ArticleOrigin of the word 'anesthesiology': Mathias J. Seifert, MD.
The word 'anesthesiology' was coined in 1902 by Mathias J. Seifert, MD, of Chicago, Illinois. ⋯ After graduation in 1901 he held academic positions in medicine and gynaecology before being appointed Professor of Physical Diagnosis and Anesthesiology at the College of Dentistry, University of Illinois. He was later appointed Professor of Surgery at the Chicago Hospital College of Medicine.