Paediatric anaesthesia
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Oct 2022
Observational StudyIncidence and characteristics of errors detected by a short team briefing in pediatric anesthesia.
In our institution, a modified WHO surgical safety checklist was implemented more than ten years ago. In retrospect, we noticed that pediatric anesthesia was underrepresented in our surgical safety checklist modification. Therefore, we added a standardized team briefing (pedSOAP-M) immediately before induction of anesthesia and hypothesized that the use of this checklist was effective to detect relevant errors with potentially harmful consequences. ⋯ The briefing tool pedSOAP-M was effective in detecting relevant errors with potentially harmful consequences. The presence of an experienced anesthetist was associated with a higher efficacy of the briefing. Particular attention should be given to entering patient weight into the anesthesia workstation and the perfusor syringe pumps.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Oct 2022
Enhanced Recovery After Cleft Palate Repair: A Quality Improvement Project.
Children undergoing cleft palate repair present challenges to postoperative management due to several factors that can complicate recovery. Utilization of multimodal analgesic protocols can improve outcomes in this population. We report experience designing and implementing an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathway for cleft palate repair to optimize postoperative recovery. ⋯ Opioid reduction and improved timeliness of oral intake is possible with an ERAS protocol for cleft palate repair, but our protocol did not alter PACU or hospital length of stay.
-
We describe a two-year-old boy with Dravet syndrome, a severe genetic epilepsy, who developed a generalized tonic-clonic seizure immediately following an intravenous bolus of lidocaine given for propofol pain amelioration during induction of anesthesia for emergency gastroscopy. Although lidocaine has not specifically been reported as potentiating seizures in Dravet syndrome, it is well-established that sodium channel blockers can worsen seizures in this population.
-
Paediatric anaesthesia · Oct 2022
Scheduled Methadone Reduces Overall Opioid Requirements after Pediatric Posterior Spinal Fusion: a single center retrospective case series.
Posterior spinal fusion to correct adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is associated with significant postoperative pain. Different modalities have been reported as part of a multimodal analgesic plan. Intravenous methadone acts as a mu-opioid agonist and N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonist and has been shown to have opioid-sparing effects. Our multimodal approach has included hydromorphone patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) with and without preincisional methadone, and recently postoperative methadone without a PCA. ⋯ A protocol with intraoperative and scheduled postoperative methadone doses resulted in a 45% reduction in opioid usage compared to a PCA-based protocol with similar analgesia after pediatric posterior spinal fusion.