British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Cardiovascular changes with the laryngeal mask airway in cardiac anaesthesia.
The laryngeal mask airway (LMA) causes fewer haemodynamic changes, particularly in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR), than tracheal intubation using either laryngoscopy or the intubating LMA. There are no data for patients with coronary artery disease. ⋯ The LMA allows airway management without hypertension and tachycardia and should be considered when anaesthetizing patients with coronary disease.
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There is increasing evidence that weaning protocols improve outcome from mechanical ventilation, but it is unclear how best to implement such protocols in large intensive care units. We evaluated a checklist of simple bedside criteria to determine whether it could be used reliably to predict successful discontinuation of mechanical ventilation. ⋯ A simple checklist can assist nurse assessment of suitability for weaning and could be used as a trigger to commence a weaning protocol. The day on which criteria are met is a useful way of stratifying patients for likely patterns of weaning.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Drug patient information leaflets in anaesthesia: effect on anxiety and patient satisfaction.
Patient information leaflets are produced for all new drugs, including anaesthetic drugs that are licensed solely for physician administration. The effect of this information on patients' satisfaction and anxiety has not been investigated previously. ⋯ A minority of patients (up to 36%) wish to receive detailed anaesthetic drug information before anaesthesia. Manufacturers' drug patient information leaflets do not alter preoperative anxiety and may be safely issued to patients requesting such information.