Anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
To shape or not to shape...simulated bougie-assisted difficult intubation in a manikin.
Thirty anaesthetists attempted to place a derived 'optimal' curve bougie or a straight bougie in the trachea of a manikin, in a randomised cross-over study. A Grade 3 Cormack and Lehane laryngoscopic view was simulated. The anaesthetists were blinded to success (tracheal placement) or failure (oesophageal placement). ⋯ On a separate occasion, under identical laboratory conditions, 30 anaesthetists attempted to place a straight coudé (angled)-tipped bougie or a straight straight-tipped bougie in the trachea of a manikin. The success rates with the coudé- and straight-tipped bougies were 43 and 0%, respectively, giving a difference (95% confidence interval) of 43% (21-61%) between the two bougies (p < 0.001). These results suggest that bougies used to facilitate difficult intubation should be curved and have a coudé tip.
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Current professional guidelines concerning information and consent for anaesthesia are a fair representation of English law. However, they reject the need for specific, written consent for anaesthesia, a position which is in accordance with other Western jurisdictions. ⋯ However, for the very reason that there are a large number of risks associated with anaesthesia (risks that are unknown to the majority of surgeons), together with the possibility of the courts moving towards a reasonable patient standard of information disclosure (as a result of the introduction of human rights legislation into English law), it is our view that the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland should change their guidelines and advise anaesthetists to obtain separate, written affirmation from patients that certain risks and consequences of anaesthesia have been explained to them. In addition, a standardised consent form for anaesthesia may prove invaluable in retrospectively defending a claim of negligence founded around information disclosure, by recording exactly the risks and consequences of interventions discussed by the anaesthetist and the patient.
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Letter Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Intranasal fentanyl for postoperative analgesia after elective Caesarean section.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Pain during awake nasal intubation after topical cocaine or phenylephrine/lidocaine spray.
Although several local anaesthetic techniques are described for nasal analgesia during awake intubation, there has been little attempt to evaluate their effectiveness. We examined pain scores associated with nasal intubation in a randomised cross-over study of 25 volunteers. ⋯ Larger diameter tubes resulted in higher pain scores. There was no difference in pain scores between the two drugs.
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The effects of introducing Modified Early Warning scores to identify medical patients at risk of catastrophic deterioration have not been examined. We prospectively studied 1695 acute medical admissions. All patients were scored in the admissions unit. ⋯ The therapeutic interventions performed in response to abnormal scores were not assessed. We are convinced that the Modified Early Warning score is a suitable scoring tool to identify patients at risk. However, outcomes in medical emergency admissions are influenced by a multitude of factors and so it may be difficult to demonstrate the score's benefit without further standardizing the response to abnormal values.