Current opinion in anaesthesiology
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Dec 2012
ReviewNausea and vomiting after surgery: it is not just postoperative.
The purpose of this review is to highlight postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), to discuss why it occurs, how it might be prevented and then how it can be treated. ⋯ It is easy to turn the vapourizer dial, but that is a part of the problem. Not everyone reacts the same to drugs. Although PDNV is not as well characterized as PONV, at the very least, avoid an anaesthetic that may make PONV/PDNV worse and be aggressive in treating the problem.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Dec 2012
ReviewBlended learning in anesthesia education: current state and future model.
Educators in anesthesia residency programs across the country are facing a number of challenges as they attempt to integrate blended learning techniques in their curriculum. Compared with the rest of higher education, which has made advances to varying degrees in the adoption of online learning anesthesiology education has been sporadic in the active integration of blended learning. The purpose of this review is to discuss the challenges in anesthesiology education and relevance of the Universal Design for Learning framework in addressing them. ⋯ This review examines recent literature pertaining to this field, both in the realm of higher education in general and medical education in particular, and proposes the application of a comprehensive learning model that is new to anesthesiology education and relevant to its goals of promoting self-directed learning.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Dec 2012
ReviewDifficult airway management in an ambulatory surgical center?
This review will focus on two key aspects of difficult airway management in an ambulatory surgical center (ASC). First, the selection process of patients with known difficult airways suitable for this environment, and second, the requirements of a difficult airway cart to manage unexpected airway problems. ⋯ The management of ambulatory surgical practices must provide suitable difficult airway management equipment as well as technical and nontechnical training. Patients may present to an ASC with expected and unexpected difficult airways. Appropriate management of these patients requires advance planning to avoid poor outcomes.
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Anesthesiologists work in a complex environment that is intolerant of errors. Cognitive errors, or errors in thought processes, are mistakes that a clinician makes despite 'knowing better'. Several new studies provide a better understanding of how to manage risk while making better decisions. ⋯ Effective decision-making and risk management reduce the risk of adverse events in the operating room. This article proposes several new decision-making and risk assessment tools for use in the operating room.
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Curr Opin Anaesthesiol · Dec 2012
ReviewIntroduction of evidence-based medicine in undergraduate medical curriculum for development of professional competencies in medical students.
Current undergraduate medical curricula in most institutions around the globe do not nurture the skills, needed for self-directed lifelong learning in medical graduates, and it needs to be reformed in such a way that the medical graduate who is trained through this reformed curriculum, possesses all the competencies of a self-directed learner. Evidence-based medicine (EBM), a new vision of physician learning which is based on continuous development and assessment of competencies needed for creating self-directed learners is to be strongly advocated for inclusion in the undergraduate medical curriculum. ⋯ Introduction of EBM in undergraduate medical curriculum helps in the development of professional competencies of self-directed learners in medical students.