You’re in the operating room, with a resident beside you, and your clinical decisions are harming the patient. Does your resident have the wherewithal to stand up to you and intervene? While the answer seems to be a resounding no, a study by a multicenter Canadian research team offers hope. The investigation showed that a […]
Read MorePediatric patients with an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification of at least III are at risk for postoperative complications and mechanical ventilation, even when undergoing low-risk procedures, researchers have concluded. Identifying these patients will go a long way toward ensuring they receive targeted preventive interventions, particularly with respect to pulmonary and nutritional […]
Read MoreAnesthesia & Analgesia: December 2016 – Volume 123 – Issue 6 – p 1480–1489 AUTHORS: Oprea, Adriana D. MD et al BACKGROUND: Increased pulse pressure (PP) is an important independent predictor of cardiovascular outcome and acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery. The objective of this study was to determine whether elevated baseline PP is […]
Read MoreFor patients with severe, chronic back and leg pain, a new high-frequency spinal cord stimulation (SCS) technique provides superior clinical outcomes, compared to conventional low-frequency SCS, reports a clinical trial in the November issue of Neurosurgery. The new ‘HF10′ technique offers lasting reductions in back and leg pain after other treatments have failed, according to […]
Read MoreImplementation of a quality improvement initiative substantially reduced excessive use of neostigmine while improving train-of-four–guided neostigmine administration. Over a six-month period, the initiative led to a decrease in the mean dose of intraoperative neostigmine from 2.9 to 2.5 mg, researchers reported. “Preliminary data have shown that these interventions led to a statistically significant reduction in […]
Read MoreAuthors: Kendale S, Blitz J Journal of Clinical Anesthesia (JCA) 33 97-104 (Sep 2016) STUDY OBJECTIVE Obese patients regularly present for surgery and have greater hypoxemia risk. This study aimed to identify the risk and incidence of intraoperative hypoxemia with increasing body mass index (BMI). DESIGN This was a retrospective cohort study. SETTING Operating room. […]
Read MoreUsing the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score to assess sepsis in women during birth can lead to an unacceptably high rate of false negatives, according to a study presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP; abstract 01-03). “SIRS (systemic inflammatory response syndrome) criteria and Maternal […]
Read MoreEye-Opener: Physical therapists may hold vastly different opinions than anesthesiologists of the utility of peripheral nerve blocks after total knee and hip replacement surgeries. “For a long time, we placed peripheral nerve catheters in every total knee replacement patient and every total hip replacement patient,” said Steven Porter, MD, assistant professor of anesthesiology at Mayo […]
Read MoreOpioid-related spending by health insurers spikes more than 1,300 percent From 2011 to 2015, insurers’ payments to hospitals, laboratories, treatment centers, other providers grew from $32 million to $446 million. Kaiser Health News The nation’s ongoing opioid problem comes with staggering physical and emotional costs to patients and families. But the dollar cost to the […]
Read MoreRates and etiologies of maternal cardiac arrest in Canada are similar to those found in the United States, a study has concluded. “This is the first Canadian study on maternal cardiac arrest,” said Leyla Baghirzada, MD, MPH, clinical assistant professor at the University of Calgary, in Alberta. She presented the study at the 2016 annual […]
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