Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Nov 2013
ReviewVeterinary and human anaesthesia: an overview of some parallels and contrasts.
The history of human and veterinary anaesthesia is both intertwined and parallel. Physicians and anaesthetists often first experimented on animals and developments from human anaesthesia have been incorporated into veterinary medicine. Within veterinary medicine, anaesthesia is a specialty discipline as it is in human medicine. ⋯ Furthermore, some agents, particularly alpha-2 adrenoreceptor agonists and ketamine, are used very widely in veterinary practice. Also in contrast to most human anaesthesia, in large animal and exotic animal practice the patients can present a physical danger to the anaesthetist. The most notable contrast between human and veterinary anaesthesia is in the reported perioperative complication and mortality rates, with a species dependent perianaesthetic mortality of up to 2% in dogs, cats and horses and greater than 2% in guinea pigs and birds, which is up to 100-fold higher than in human anaesthesia.
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The primary objective of this survey was to investigate the prevalence of insomnia among anaesthetists in Hong Kong. The use of sleeping aids, factors associated with insomnia and the effect of insomnia on work performance were also studied. We surveyed all locally registered anaesthesia specialists and trainees by post. ⋯ However, it was not associated with the tendency to fall asleep at work. The results of this survey suggest that insomnia is a common problem among the anaesthetists of Hong Kong. By restricting the amount of on-call duty and improving relationships with supervisors, the prevalence of insomnia may be reduced and the quality of patient care improved.