Journal of clinical anesthesia
-
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires medical training programs to monitor, track, and formally document a fellow's performance. If deficiencies are found, programs are expected to prepare and implement an effective plan of action for improvement and to ensure that graduates acquire the personal and professional attributes of an independent physician. We revised our evaluation policy and instituted a remediation protocol in 2008. ⋯ All fellows who participated in this program completed their subspecialty training in pediatric anesthesia, and all eligible fellows have successfully achieved their subspecialty board certification. Our approach has the advantage of multimodality, time-based daily evaluations, and group discussions in the context of a Clinical Competency Committee. Utilization of an IRP as a metric for progress has features similar to effective cognitive behavioral therapy contracts and has ensured that our graduates are held to clearly delineated and specified skills and behaviors that allow them to work independently in the field of pediatric anesthesiology.
-
Comparative Study Observational Study
Confirmation of laryngeal mask airway placement by ultrasound examination: a pilot study.
We sought to validate ultrasound against other established methods of confirming laryngeal mask airway (LMA) placement. ⋯ Ultrasound examination is a fast, noninvasive and reliable means of detecting LMA misplacement that agrees closely with the leakage test. Ultrasound is as effective as a fiberoptic examination to confirm LMA placement and indicate the need for reinsertion, but does not require ventilation to be interrupted.
-
Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes syndrome is a progressive syndrome with variable involvement of multiple-organ systems. These patients require special consideration for preoperative optimization, intraoperative management, and postoperative care. The medical literature regarding perioperative management of these patients relies heavily on case reports. Here we present a novel experience providing care for a patient with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes syndrome who underwent renal transplantation for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and end-stage renal disease.
-
The benefits of cardiopulmonary exercise testing have been well established. Certain patient groups present challenges for conducting such a test. We were presented with a patient with a permanent tracheostomy at the preoperative assessment clinic. ⋯ We used a cuffed tracheostomy tube together with some widely available tubing from theaters to connect the patient to the gas analyzer. The test was only stopped because of excessive secretions from the patient, and we had already established enough data to tell us that the patient was fit enough to proceed to surgery. As more patients present with tracheostomies, we feel that this case would be a useful reference in managing and assessing such patients.