Anaesthesia and intensive care
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Early evidence suggests that checklists are one way of ensuring required processes of care are delivered to intensive care unit patients. Evidence to date however, has not explicitly detailed methods of checklist validation in these settings. This study aimed to test the validity of a 'process-of-care' checklist for measuring and ensuring daily care delivery in an intensive care unit. ⋯ The two forms of documentation were significantly correlated (P=0.01) for all but one of the checklist items (pain). Findings provided support for the concurrent validity of an intensive care unit process-of-care checklist. Further research is required for checklist validity and reliability testing prior to, or in conjunction with, a planned prospective intervention study.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · May 2013
A survey of patient understanding and expectations of sedation/anaesthesia for colonoscopy.
One hundred and fifty-nine adult patients undergoing elective colonoscopy in a major regional hospital were surveyed regarding their perceptions and expectations of sedation/anaesthesia for this procedure. The survey was undertaken on the day of the procedure, but before their assessment by the anaesthetist. Most of our patients expected to be completely unconscious and few understood that there was any chance of being aware during any part of their colonoscopy procedure. ⋯ However, those patients who recognised the potential for procedural awareness reported significantly less concern about this potential occurrence than patients who were unaware of the possibility. Our findings suggest that explicit discussion of the possibility of procedural awareness during colonoscopy should be considered by clinicians who administer sedation or anaesthesia for colonoscopy. Knowledge of this potential source of patient confusion and anxiety may enable clinicians to better target the pre-procedural discussion, in order to more appropriately inform patient expectations.