Paediatric anaesthesia
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Aug 2022
The Association of Severe Pain Experienced in the PICU and Post-Discharge Health-Related Quality of Life: A Retrospective Cohort Study.
Pain may be a modifiable risk factor for lower health-related quality of life after pediatric critical illness. ⋯ Children who experience severe pain in the pediatric intensive care unit have lower postdischarge health-related quality of life adjusting for baseline health-related quality of life, particularly among children who have undergone surgery. Attention to pain management may be important to improve postdischarge health-related quality of life.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Aug 2022
Patient and Operative Factors Associated with Unanticipated Intensive Care Admission and Outcomes Following Posterior Fossa Decompressions in Children: A Retrospective Study.
Posterior fossa decompression for Chiari I Malformation is a common pediatric neurosurgical procedure. We sought to identify the impact of anesthesia-related intraoperative complications on unanticipated admission to the intensive care unit and outcomes following posterior fossa decompression. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that although anesthesia-related intraoperative complications during posterior fossa decompression are infrequent, they are associated with an increased risk of an unanticipated admission to the intensive care unit.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Aug 2022
Case ReportsAnesthetic Management in an Infant with Tetra-amelia Syndrome with Congenital Maxillomandibular Fusion: A Case Report.
A 10-month-old girl who had tetra-amelia syndrome and congenital maxillomandibular fusion (syngnathia) was scheduled for the surgical fusion separation. Anesthetic management for this case was considerably challenging. ⋯ Connecting anesthetic circuit with nasopharyngeal airway was the preferred technique due to its benefits such as maintaining spontaneous ventilation, providing inhaled anesthetic, as well as monitoring oxygenation and ventilation. Importantly, the cornerstones for handling such complicated cases are multidisciplinary approach and teamwork.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Aug 2022
Remote After-Care Using Smartphones (RACUS): a feasibility study of monitoring children's pain with automated SMS messaging.
Monitoring children's recovery postoperatively is important for routine care, research, and quality improvement. Although telephone follow-up is common, it is also time-consuming and intrusive for families. Using SMS messaging to communicate with families regarding their child's recovery has the potential to address these concerns. While a previous survey at our institution indicated that parents were willing to communicate with the hospital by SMS, data on response rates for SMS-based postoperative data collection is limited, particularly in pediatric populations. ⋯ This methodology is likely to generalize well to other simple clinical questions and produce good response rates in further similar studies. We expect SMS messaging to permit expanded longitudinal data collection and broader investigation into patient recovery than previously feasible using telephone follow-up at our institution.
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Paediatric anaesthesia · Aug 2022
Setting a Universal Standard: Should We Benchmark Quality Outcomes for Pediatric Anesthesia Care?
Anesthesiology is a medical specialty well known for its work in patient safety, allowing the field to show a dramatic decrease in perioperative morbidity and mortality in both adults and children since the 1950s. Currently, anesthesia-related mortality is close to zero in healthy children, with deaths occurring primarily in children ASA physical status ≥4. Survival during anesthesia today represents the expectation and standard of care, rather than a marker of quality. ⋯ We discuss the need for standardization of metrics to establish targets and benchmarks for the delivery of high-quality care to children and adolescents mainly in North America. The time has come to move beyond mortality and establish universally accepted minimum outcome standards in pediatric anesthesia. We believe this will ultimately improve confidence in the quality of pediatric anesthesia care offered to children, no matter where they are receiving that care.