Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
The effect of adjuvant remifentanil with propofol or thiopentone on seizure quality during electroconvulsive therapy.
In order to optimise outcome to Electro Convulsive therapy (ECT), there has been a trend to utilise remifentanil as an adjunct to standard intravenous induction agents. This has allowed a reduction in the dose of anaesthetic agent, and usually an improved response to stimulation. ⋯ There were no improvements seen in the measurements of any EEG parameter, including seizure duration. These observations suggest that remifentanil does not possess any intrinsic pro-convulsant activity and that any improvement in outcome seen with its use is as a result of dose reduction in the IV anaesthetic agent.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
Learning from defects using a comprehensive management system for incident reports in critical care.
Incident reporting systems are often used without a structured review process, limiting their utility to learn from defects and compromising their impact on improving the healthcare system. The objective of this study is to describe the experience of implementing a Comprehensive Management System (CMS) for incident reports in the ICU. A physician-led multidisciplinary Incident Report Committee was created to review, analyse and manage the department incident reports. ⋯ There was a significant decrease in the time needed to close incident report after implementing the CMS (median of 70 days [Q1-Q3: 26-212] versus 13 days [Q1-Q3: 6-25, P<0.001]). A physician-led multidisciplinary CMS resulted in significant improvement in the output of the incident reporting system. This may be important to enhance the effectiveness of incident reporting systems in highlighting system defects, increasing learning opportunities and improving patient safety.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
Characteristics and dying trajectories of adult hospital patients from acute care wards who die following review by the rapid response team.
A third of patients reviewed by rapid response teams (RRT) require end-of-life care. However, little is known about the characteristics and management of these patients following RRT review. This paper presents results of a retrospective, descriptive audit that explored the dying trajectory of adult ward inpatients who died outside of intensive care following RRT review. ⋯ Fifty-two per cent of patients had a pre-existing DNAR. Eighty per cent of patients died in hospital. Whilst the RRT fulfils an unmet need in decision-making at end of life, there is a need to understand what RRT, instead of ward-based or palliative care teams, offers dying patients.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
Risk factors for bleeding complications after percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy: a ten-year institutional analysis.
Bleeding complications after percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) are infrequent but may have a tremendous impact on a patient's further clinical course. Therefore, it seems necessary to perform risk stratification for patients scheduled for PDT. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 1001 patients (46% male, mean age 68.1 years) undergoing PDT (using the Ciaglia Blue Rhino® technique with direct bronchoscopic guidance) in our cardiothoracic ICU between January 2003 and February 2013. ⋯ Patients in Group A had a significantly higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score on the day of PDT (P=0.042), higher prevalence of renal replacement therapy on the day of PDT (P=0.026), higher incidence of coagulopathy (P=0.043), lower platelet counts (P=0.037), lower fibrinogen levels (P=0.012), higher proportion of PDTs performed by residents (P=0.034) and higher difficulty grading of PDT (P=0.001). Using logistic regression analyses, difficult PDT, less experienced operator, Simplified Acute Physiology Score>40 and low fibrinogen levels were independent predictors of clinically significant bleeding after PDT. Low fibrinogen levels, as well as difficult PDT, less experienced operator and Simplified Acute Physiology Score>40 are associated with an increased risk for bleeding during PDT.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Mar 2016
The anaesthetic assessment, management and risk factors of bariatric surgical patients requiring postoperative intensive care support: a state-wide, five-year cohort study.
Bariatric surgery is a rapidly growing and dynamic discipline necessitating a specialised anaesthetic approach coordinating high-risk patients with appropriate post-operative intensive care (ICU) support. The relationship between the anaesthetic and ICU utilisation after bariatric surgery is poorly understood. All adult bariatric surgery patients admitted to any ICU over a five-year period between 2007 and 2011 in Western Australia were identified from hospital admission records and cross-referenced against the Western Australian Department of Health Data Linkage Unit database. ⋯ Anaesthetic complications were extremely uncommon (0.5% of all bariatric cases) but accounted for 9.7% of all postoperative ICU admissions. Smoking history, but not body-mass-index (P=0.46), was the only significant prognostic factor for respiratory or airway related anaesthetic complications (P=0.012). In summary, the anaesthesia management of bariatric surgery varied widely in Western Australia, with smoking as the only significant preoperative risk factor for respiratory or airway related anaesthesia complications.