Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthésie
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A perioperative surgical home, the Anesthesia Perioperative Care Service (APCS), was created to execute enhanced recovery after surgery pathways for total knee and total hip arthroplasty patients at the Tennessee Valley Health System Nashville VA Medical Center. We hypothesized that the APCS would be associated with reduced length of stay, in-hospital and post-discharge opioid exposure, costs, and hospital readmissions. ⋯ This cohort study showed significant improvements in important post-surgical outcomes after total knee and hip arthroplasty that were associated with the implementation of an APCS.
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Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) uses ultrasound at the bedside to aid decision-making in acute clinical scenarios. The increased use of ultrasound for regional anesthesia and vascular cannulation, together with more anesthesiologists trained in transesophageal echocardiography have contributed to the widespread use of POCUS in perioperative care. Despite the support of international experts, the practice of POCUS in perioperative care is variable as Canadian guidelines for anesthesiologists do not currently exist. ⋯ The use of bPOCUS is evolving and will play a significant role in perioperative medicine. This consensus statement aims to define a Canadian national standard on which curricula may be based. It also provides a framework to allow further development of bPOCUS in the perioperative setting.
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Present clinical updates, current research findings, and consensus statements relevant to the care of the acute kidney injury (AKI) patient. ⋯ Acute kidney injury continues to affect large numbers of patients receiving surgery or in the intensive care unit, but specific advances in resuscitation techniques, endpoint refinements, epidemiology, biomarkers, and pathology are providing the necessary framework to reduce AKI and associated morbidity.
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Observational Study
A retrospective observational study of daytime and nighttime transfers from the intensive care unit: through the lens of critical care response teams.
To evaluate the impact of nighttime compared with daytime transfers from the intensive care unit (ICU) on mortality in a hospital with a critical care response team (CCRT). ⋯ Nighttime transfer from the ICU was not an independent predictor of mortality. We identified unique predictors of mortality, including clinical events that CCRTs identified in patients immediately after ICU transfer. Future studies are required to validate these predictors of mortality in transferred ICU patients.
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Neurologic determination of death (NDD) is legally accepted as death in Canada but remains susceptible to misunderstandings. In some cases, families request continued organ support after NDD. Conflicts can escalate to formal legal challenges, causing emotional, financial, and moral distress for all involved. We describe prevalence, characteristics, and common experiences with requests for continued organ support following NDD in Canada. ⋯ Family requests for continued somatic support following NDD were encountered by half our sample of Canadian critical care physicians. Mitigation strategies require attention to the multifaceted social contexts surrounding these complex scenarios.