Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · May 2016
Patient monitoring with Google Glass: a pilot study of a novel monitoring technology.
Head-mounted devices (HMDs) are of significant interest for applications within medicine, including in anesthesia for patient monitoring. Previous devices trialed in anesthesia for this purpose were often bulky, involved cable tethers, or were otherwise ergonomically infeasible. Google Glass is a modern HMD that is lightweight and solves many of the issues identified with previous HMDs. ⋯ Given the pilot nature of this study, we consider these results highly favorable. Anesthetists readily accepted Google Glass in the anesthetic environment, with further enhancements to device software, rather than hardware, now being the barrier to adoption. There are a number of applications for HMDs in pediatric anesthesia.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · May 2016
Observational StudyAudit of anesthetic trainees' 'hands-on' operating room experience in an Australian tertiary children's hospital.
There are no internationally accepted guidelines about what constitutes adequate clinical exposure during pediatric anesthetic training. In Australia, no data have been published on the level of experience obtained by anesthetic trainees in pediatric anesthesia. There is, however, a new ANZCA (Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists) curriculum that quantifies new training requirements. ⋯ Experience gained at our hospital easily meets the new College requirements. Experience of fiber-optic intubation and regional blocks would appear insufficient to develop sufficient skills or confidence. The study provides other institutions with information to benchmark against their own trainee experience.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · May 2016
A case series of peripheral nerve blocks in pediatrics and young adults with skeletal dysplasia.
The purpose of this study was to report our experience with peripheral nerve blockade in pediatric and young adult patients with skeletal dysplasia undergoing knee arthroscopy. ⋯ Patients with skeletal dysplasia receiving lower extremity nerve blocks consume minimal opioid and report no major complications. Anesthesiologists should consider this mode of anesthesia in these patients. While no nerve injuries were discovered, further study is necessary to determine whether rates of nerve injury are comparable to that in the general pediatric population. Given the size of the skeletal dysplasia population, this type of study would require close to a decade of metadata from numerous institutions.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · May 2016
Pediatric anesthesiology fellow education: is a simulation-based boot camp feasible and valuable?
Pediatric anesthesiologists must manage crises in neonates and children with timely responses and limited margin for error. Teaching the range of relevant skills during a 12-month fellowship is challenging. An experiential simulation-based curriculum can augment acquisition of knowledge and skills. ⋯ A simulation-based BC for pediatric anesthesiology fellows was feasible, perceived to improve confidence, knowledge, technical skills, and clinical performance, and was not too basic.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · May 2016
Biography Historical ArticlePediatric transport medicine and the dawn of the pediatric anesthesiology and critical care medicine subspecialty: an interview with pioneer Dr. Alvin Hackel.
Dr. Alvin 'Al' Hackel (1932-) Professor Emeritus of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, and Pediatrics at the Stanford University School of Medicine, has been an influential pioneer in shaping the scope and practice of pediatric anesthesia. His leadership helped to formally define the subspecialty of pediatric anesthesiology ('who is a pediatric anesthesiologist?') and the importance of specialization and regionalization of expertise in both patient transport and perioperative care. ⋯ Hackel identifies his early involvement in the development of pediatric transport medicine as well as the subspecialty of pediatric anesthesiology as his defining contribution. Based on a series of interviews held with Dr. Hackel between 2009 and 2014, this article reviews the early development of transportation medicine and the remarkable career of a pioneering pediatric anesthesiologist.