Author: Felipe Urdaneta, MD, FASA Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Oct 2023 There has been tremendous growth and progress in airway management in the past four decades, despite an increase in high-risk groups such as patients of extreme size and weight, trauma, and obstructive sleep apnea, to name a few.1 The introduction and refinement and widespread adoption […]
Read MoreAuthor: Amy Demyan, PhD, RYT et al Practical Pain Management Volume 23 Issue 4 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often occurs in individuals with chronic pain at a greater rate compared to individuals without pain.1,2 A key factor known to increase the risk of the development of PTSD in people with chronic pain is trauma exposure in […]
Read MoreAuthor: Mark Garofoli, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, CPE Pain Management Pharmacist Practical Pain Management Volume 23 Issue 4 A patient is taking more than one medication, what could possibly go wrong? Back in the day, pharmacists had a reputation for adding drugs to a patient’s ever-growing list of maintenance medications. But these days, most pharmacists are […]
Read MoreAuthor: Patsy Newitt Becker’s Spine Review A lawsuit filed against Morgantown. W.Va.-based J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital accuses an anesthesiologist of negligence during a 2021 spinal surgery, The Dominion Post reported Oct. 3. On Oct. 8, 2021, David Gentry underwent a spinal procedure requiring anesthesia. He allegedly suffered severe skin-tear injuries to his shoulder, arms and elbow after […]
Read MoreAuthors: George Tewfik MD, MBA, FASA, CPE, MSBA et al Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Oct 2023 BACKGROUND Food bolus impaction and foreign object ingestion are aberrant clinical conditions that often require urgent intervention including endoscopy with either a push or retrieval technique.1 Patients presenting with foreign body ingestion or impaction may subsequently develop catastrophic sequelae such […]
Read MoreAuthors: Molly M.H. Herr, MD; Leal G. Segura, MD Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Oct 2023 In anesthesiology, the use of single-use devices has sky-rocketed over the last two decades. Single-use devices used in anesthesia practice, including laryngoscopes, video laryngoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, medical gowns, operating room hats and attire, and pulse oximetry probes are often […]
Read MoreAuthor: Jerome Lax, MD Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Oct 2023 Dear RAPID Response Recently at our institution, toward the end of a laparotomy, a puzzling event occurred. As a radiofrequency detection wand (Medtronic Situate™ Detection System X, New Haven, CT ) was waved over the abdomen, an electronic interference alert was triggered. Subsequent assessment of […]
Read MoreAuthors: Eileen Nguyen, M.D., Ph.D. et al Anesthesiology October 2023, Vol. 139, 462–475. Background Pharmacologic manipulations directed at the periaqueductal gray have demonstrated the importance of the μ-opioid receptor in modulating reflexive responses to nociception. The authors hypothesized that a supraspinal pathway centered on neurons in the periaqueductal gray containing the μ-opioid receptor could modulate nociceptive […]
Read MoreAuthor: Jonathan B. Cohen, MD, MS Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Oct 2023 In March of this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray for over-the-counter, nonprescription use. This move was consistent with longstanding recommendations by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and testimony given before several of its committees […]
Read MoreAuthors: John Beard, MD et al Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Oct 2023 Nonoperating room anesthesia (NORA) cases are projected to exceed 50% of total anesthesia cases in the near future.1 Although one large-scale study failed to show a difference in mortality between NORA and operating room (OR) settings,2 multiple analyses of data from the American Society of […]
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