Plastic surgical nursing : official journal of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical Nurses
-
Elderly patients may be at greater risk for perioperative complications and mortality due to an increased prevalence of age-related concomitant diseases, often more than one at a time, and a basic decline in organ functioning over time. Risks associated with age in the plastic surgery population may be minimized by a better understanding of the physiologic changes as well as the preoperative and postoperative considerations in caring for this special group of patients. The purpose of this article is to review the changes that occur with aging and the nursing care implications necessary to minimize the associated risks with anesthesia and plastic surgery.
-
Responsibility for patient comfort has always been the concern of the nurse. Conscious sedation and or local anesthesia are commonly becoming the primary method of anesthesia for a variety of outpatient plastic surgical procedures. ⋯ Furthermore, many patients now request nonchemical adjuncts for anxiolysis and sedation as well as for analgesia in the surgical suite. This article will provide the nurse with a basic overview of one such alternative, music, including a brief historical review, relevant research, and guidelines for use of music with the operative client.
-
Conscious sedation is an appropriate choice for patients who do not require a general anesthetic, but rather need sedation to alleviate anxiety, minimize the discomfort of less invasive surgical procedures, or even to tolerate a regional or local anesthetic. New pharmaceutical agents, with their short half lives, provide amnesia, analgesia, and sedation quite safely. ⋯ Standards and guidelines have been extensively developed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, to set forth a practice for all providers that will promote patient safety and provider vigilance (AANA, 1998). The purpose of this article is to review the process of conscious sedation.