Anaesthesia
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Observational Study
Construct validity of a novel assessment tool for ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus block.
The purpose of this study was to examine the construct validity and reliability of a novel metrics-based assessment tool, previously developed for ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus block. Five expert and eight novice anaesthetists performed a total of 18 ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus blocks on the same number of patients. A trained investigator video-taped procedures according to a pre-defined protocol. ⋯ Compared with novices, experts completed more steps (mean 41.0 vs. 33.1, p = 0.001), had fewer procedural errors (2.8 vs. 7.9, p < 0.0001), had fewer critical errors (0.8 vs. 1.3, p = 0.030), and fewer total errors (3.5 vs. 9.1, p < 0.0001). The mean inter-rater reliability for scoring of experts' performance was 0.91, for novices' performance was 0.84, and for all performance combined (n = 18) was 0.88. This assessment tool is valid, and discriminates reliably between expert and novice performance for placement of ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus blocks.
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Poor sleep is an increasingly recognised problem with chronic pain and further increases the effect on daily function. To identify the relationship between chronic pain, opioid analgesia and sleep quality, this study investigated activity and sleep patterns in patients taking opioid and non-opioid analgesia for chronic back pain. Thirty-one participants (10 healthy controls, 21 patients with chronic pain: 6 on non-opioid medication; 15 on opioid medication) were assessed using actigraphy, polysomnography and questionnaires. ⋯ Patients on high doses of opioids (> 100 mg morphine-equivalent/day) demonstrated distinctly abnormal brain activity during sleep suggesting that polysomnography is necessary to detect sleep disturbance in this population in the absence of irregular rest-activity behaviour. Night-time sleep disturbance is common in individuals suffering from chronic pain and may be further exacerbated by opioid treatment. Considerations must be made regarding the appropriate use of combined actigraphy and miniaturised polysomnography for future population-based studies.
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'Speaking up' or the ability to effectively challenge erroneous decisions is essential to preventing harm. This mixed-methods study in two parts explores the concept of 'barriers to challenging seniors' for anaesthetic trainees, and proposes a conceptual framework. Using a fully immersive simulation scenario with unanticipated airway difficulty, we investigated how junior anaesthetists (one to two years of training) challenged a scripted error. ⋯ Focus group analysis conceptualised a 'barrier network' with three main themes: concerns around relationships; decision-making; and risk/cost-benefit. Emotional maturity is an important protective layer around decisions to challenge. Despite significant multifactorial barriers, systematic training in effective 'speaking up' could improve the confidence and ability of juniors to challenge erroneous decisions.