Journal of clinical anesthesia
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Switching from one specialty to another increases mean turnover times (i.e., interval between the exit and entrance of consecutive patients in an operating room [OR]). We estimate the effect on the mean tardiness of to-follow surgeons from following another surgeon of a different versus same specialty. Tardiness of a case's start time refers to the number of minutes the patient enters the OR later than scheduled; tardiness is 0 min if the patient enters early. Tardiness cause surgeon waiting. There are multiple causes of tardiness, but, most often, the preceding case(s) took longer than estimated. ⋯ OR managers can assure surgeons with afternoon starts that following a surgeon of a different specialty generally will not increase their waiting time. Case scheduling should focus on reducing over-utilized OR time and thus the hours that anesthesiologists and nurses work late.
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While the incidence of postoperative delirium is high in aged hospitalized patients undergoing major surgery, little is known concerning patients undergoing ambulatory surgery. ⋯ Using the FAM-CAM instrument for the detection of postoperative delirium in ambulatory patients, the study showed that the incidence of cognitive changes in the ambulatory setting is very low. Among several putative factors, the lightness of the surgical procedure, the wide use of regional anesthesia, and the short hospital stay may be contributing factors to this result. The findings of this study need to be confirmed in a larger sample of patients.