Der Anaesthesist
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In patients with coronary stents scheduled for surgery the question arises whether and how antiplatelet therapy should be continued. Risks of perioperative bleeding and of acute stent thrombosis have to be considered simultaneously. The bleeding risk depends primarily on the kind of surgery and on patient comorbidity. ⋯ Bridging with heparin is ineffective. Bridging with intravenous antiplatelet drugs during the perioperative interruption of oral antiplatelet therapy might be a potential procedure in high-risk patients. Whether bedside monitoring of antiplatelet therapy improves the perioperative management of these patients and reduces adverse outcome is object of current studies.
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Peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) of the lower extremities are effective techniques for anesthesia and postoperative pain control. So far, these techniques have been used less frequently than PNBs of the upper limb. Nevertheless, growing awareness of complications of neuroaxial techniques, improved equipment and modern techniques for nerve localization have led to an increased use of PNBs of the lower limb. ⋯ They should also know the typical complications and side-effects and thoroughly inform patients about such potential problems. Continuous PNBs (perineural catheters) allow the benefits of PNBs to be prolonged into the postoperative period. Compared to continuous neuroaxial techniques continuous PNBs are equally effective for pain control but seem to be associated with fewer complications and side-effects.
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In patient care several clinical departments are often involved in the treatment of a single case. Due to this shared work and internal patient transfer between departments the respective departments have to share the single reimbursement sum which is granted for each hospital case in the German DRG system. The intensive care unit in particular, at least if maintained as an independent department, has a high rate of internal transfers and most of the patients will be transferred back to the original department prior to discharge from hospital. ⋯ Three different methods of supplemental revenues allocation were analyzed regarding the financial impact on the intensive care unit: allocation to the department from which the patient is discharged, allocation according to the length of stay in a particular department (in this case the intensive care unit) and allocation based on actually documented medical services eligible for supplemental revenues. The supplemental revenues take up a considerable share of the total reimbursement for intensive care. Based on the first 2 allocation methods the intensive care unit would receive 20% less supplemental revenues compared to the third allocation method, which supposedly reflects best the actual costs.
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Up to as many as 38,000 people die in German hospitals each year as a result of preventable medical errors. Anesthetic procedures are generally safer than internal medical procedures and the mortality associated with anesthesia is estimated to be 3.3-5 cases per million. However, this is still 10 times higher than the risk associated with civilian aviation for example. Up to 80% of mistakes are attributable to inadequate execution of non-technical skills (NTS) such as communication, teamwork and organization of the working environment. Training in non-technical skills through Anesthesia Crisis Resource Management (ACRM) is an integral part of the Berlin Simulation Training (BeST) curriculum. The aim of this study was to describe the subjective evaluation of change in routine clinical behavior as a result of simulator training using latent outcome variables such as "subjective evaluation of learning outcome", with special emphasis on communication. ⋯ Well-staged and realistic simulation is associated with better learning outcomes. It may be important to take gender aspects into account in ACRM training.