Authors: S Griffiths MBBS FRCA; C Nicholson MBChB (Otago) FRCA BJA Education. 2016;16(1):21-25. Introduction Liver disease in pregnancy is not common but can be a significant cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality, frequently appearing in the triennial confidential enquiries ( Table 1 ). Fulminant hepatic failure is very rare and poses major challenges […]
Read MoreResidents interested in emergency medicine and anesthesiology can now have the best of both worlds—at the same time. The American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) and the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) launched a combined training option that will offer residents the opportunity to get certified for both specialties. “The combined training programs in emergency […]
Read MoreSource: The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 3 CD010135 (Mar 2016) AUTHORS: R, Srivastava A et al BACKGROUND Anaesthetic drugs during general anaesthesia are titrated according to sympathetic or somatic responses to surgical stimuli. It is now possible to measure depth of anaesthesia using electroencephalography (EEG). Entropy, an EEG-based monitor can be used to assess […]
Read MoreTwenty-six seconds: That’s the average amount of extra time it might take an anesthesia resident to exchange up to 20% more information when using a new PACU handoff checklist developed by researchers at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, a new study suggests. The PACU is a “high-risk environment” where health care providers are multitasking rapidly to […]
Read MoreThe use of peripheral nerve blocks (PNBs) is associated with better medical and economic outcomes in patients receiving hip and knee replacement, according to a study being presented later this month at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. The use of PNBs is on the rise, but […]
Read MoreAnesthesia & Analgesia: March 2016 AUTHORS: Subramanian, Balachundhar MD et al BACKGROUND: The purpose of this multicenter pilot study was to: (1) determine the frequency of regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rScO2) desaturations during cardiac surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB); (2) evaluate the accuracy of clinician-identified rScO2 desaturations compared with those recorded continuously during surgery by […]
Read MoreAnesthesia & Analgesia: March 2016 AUTHORS: Sawhney, Monakshi PhD, NP(Adult) et al BACKGROUND: Total knee arthroplasty is a painful surgery that requires early mobilization for successful joint function. Multimodal analgesia, including spinal analgesia, nerve blocks, periarticular infiltration (PI), opioids, and coanalgesics, has been shown to effectively manage postoperative pain. Both adductor canal (AC) and PI […]
Read MoreAnesthesia & Analgesia: May 2016 – Volume 122 – Issue 5 – p 1395–1403 AUTHORS: Loeb, Robert G. MD et al BACKGROUND: The pulse oximeter has been a standard of care medical monitor for >25 years. Most manufacturers include a variable-pitch pulse tone in their pulse oximeters. Research has shown that the acoustic properties of […]
Read MoreUtah’s governor on Monday signed a bill requiring doctors to administer anesthesia to women receiving an abortion at the 20th week of gestation, his office said. The bill, the first of its kind in the nation according to the Salt Lake Tribune, states that an anesthetic or analgesic will “eliminate or alleviate organic pain to […]
Read MoreAnesthesia & Analgesia: March 2016 AUTHORS: Frölich, Michael A. MD, MS et al BACKGROUND: Hormonal action has been implicated as a possible mechanism for pregnancy-induced analgesia. Previous investigators have reported an increase in heat pain tolerance during labor compared with nonpregnant controls and postulated it was because of the hormonal changes during pregnancy. However, these […]
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