Anaesthesia
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Case reports have fulfilled an important role in the development of anaesthesia and continue to be highly relevant to modern practice. Despite this, they are sometimes criticised for being insufficiently rigorous to meaningfully inform clinical practice or research design. Reporting checklists are a useful tool to improve rigour in research and, although case report checklists have previously been developed, no existing checklist focuses on the peri-operative setting. ⋯ Adopting a standardised approach to the content of case reports presents clear benefits to authors, editors and peer reviewers through streamlining the processes involved in writing and publication. The Anaesthesia Case Report checklist provides a pragmatic framework for comprehensive and transparent reporting. We hope it will facilitate the authorship of high-quality case reports with the potential to further improve the quality and safety of peri-operative care.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Decision-to-delivery interval and neonatal outcomes for category-1 caesarean sections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
General anaesthesia is known to achieve the shortest decision-to-delivery interval for category-1 caesarean section. We investigated whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected the decision-to delivery interval and influenced neonatal outcomes in patients who underwent category-1 caesarean section. Records of 562 patients who underwent emergency caesarean section between 1 April 2019 and 1 July 2019 in seven UK hospitals (pre-COVID-19 group) were compared with 577 emergency caesarean sections performed during the same period during the COVID-19 pandemic (1 April 2020-1 July 2020) (post-COVID-19 group). ⋯ Compared with the pre-COVID-19 group, the post-COVID-19 group had an increase in median (IQR [range]) decision-to-delivery interval (26 (18-32 [4-124]) min vs. 27 (20-33 [3-102]) min; p = 0.043) and a decrease in the number of caesarean sections meeting the decision-to-delivery interval target of < 30 min (374/562 (66.5%) vs. 349/577 (60.5%); p = 0.02). The incidence of adverse neonatal outcomes was similar in the pre- and post-COVID-19 groups (140/568 (24.6%) vs. 140/583 (24.0%), respectively; p = 0.85). The small increase in decision-to-delivery interval observed during the COVID-19 pandemic did not adversely affect neonatal outcomes.