Anesthesia and analgesia
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jul 2024
Poor Concordance Between Intensive Care Unit Patients' and Family Members' Patient Dignity Inventory Scores Despite Communication of Dignity-Related Distress.
Promptly assessing and treating the distress of intensive care unit (ICU) patients may improve long-term psychological outcomes. One holistic approach to reduce patient distress is through dignity-centered care, traditionally used in palliative care. The 25-item Patient Dignity Inventory has construct validity and reliability for measuring dignity-related distress among ICU patients. Because family members often serve as ICU patients' surrogates and play an integral role in patients' dignity, we examined whether family members reliably recognized ICU patients' sources of distress. ⋯ Although ICU patients often report sharing sources of distress with their loved ones, family members cannot accurately or reliably assess the extent to which patients experience psychosocial, existential, and symptom-related distress during critical illness. Treatments of distress should not be delayed by the absence of family members.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jul 2024
Substantia Innominata Glutamatergic Neurons Modulate Sevoflurane Anesthesia in Male Mice.
Accumulated evidence suggests that brain regions that promote wakefulness also facilitate emergence from general anesthesia (GA). Glutamatergic neurons in the substantia innominata (SI) regulate motivation-related aversive, depressive, and aggressive behaviors relying on heightened arousal. Here, we hypothesize that glutamatergic neurons in the SI are also involved in the regulation of the effects of sevoflurane anesthesia. ⋯ Our study shows that SI glutamatergic neuronal activity facilitates emergence from sevoflurane anesthesia and provides evidence for the involvement of the SI-LH glutamatergic pathway in the regulation of consciousness during GA.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jul 2024
Predictive Validity of Anesthesiologists' Quality of Clinical Supervision and Nurse Anesthetists' Work Habits Assessed by Their Associations With Operating Room Times.
At all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals, the anesthesia department chair must report quantitative assessments of anesthesiologists' and nurse anesthetists' (CRNAs') clinical performance at least annually. Most metrics lack evidence of usefulness, cost-effectiveness, reliability, or validity. Earlier studies showed that anesthesiologists' clinical supervision quality and CRNAs' work habits have content, convergent, discriminant, and construct validity. We evaluated predictive validity by testing for (expected) small but statistically significant associations between higher quality of supervision (work habits) and reduced probabilities of cases taking longer than estimated. ⋯ Predictive validity was confirmed, providing further evidence for using supervision and work habits scales for ongoing professional practice evaluations. Specifically, OR times were briefer when anesthesiologists supervised residents more closely, and when CRNAs had better work habits.
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Anesthesia and analgesia · Jul 2024
Association Between Preoperative Anemia and Cognitive Function in a Large Cohort Study of Older Patients Undergoing Elective Surgery.
The etiology of anemia has tremendous overlap with the disease states responsible for cognitive decline. We used data from a perioperative database of older adults undergoing elective surgery with anesthesia to (1) examine relationships among preoperative anemia blood markers, preoperative screeners of cognitive function, and chronic disease status; and (2) examine the relationship of these factors with operative outcomes. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the association between preoperative anemia blood markers and cognition measured by a preoperative cognitive screener. Secondary goals were to (1) examine the relationship between preoperative anemia blood markers and chronic disease states (ie, American Society of Anesthesiologists [ASA] and frailty), and (2) investigate the relationship of preoperative anemia blood markers and cognition with operative outcomes (ie, discharge disposition, 1-year mortality, number of surgical complications, length of hospital stay, and length of intensive care unit [ICU] stay). ⋯ In this first medicine study, we established relationships among anemia, preoperative markers of frailty and cognition, and chronic disease states in a large cohort of older patients undergoing elective surgery in a large tertiary medical center. We found that anemia, cognitive vulnerability, and chronic health disease states predicted death within 1 year of surgery, and that these preoperative factors negatively contribute to surgical outcomes such as time in the ICU, length of hospital stay, nonhome discharge, and 1-year mortality. The World Health Organization (WHO) and many academic medical societies have urged the adoption of patient blood management (PBM) disciplines, yet anemia is not routinely optimized as a preoperative risk factor. Given the well-defined association between preoperative anemia and postoperative morbidity and mortality, performing elective surgery on an untreated anemic patient should be considered substandard care. With established safe and effective treatment regimens, iron deficiency anemia is a modifiable preoperative risk factor that should be addressed before elective surgery.