Der Anaesthesist
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Prewarming is a useful and effective measure to reduce perioperative hypothermia. Due to §23(3) of the German Infektionsschutzgesetz (Gesetz zur Verhütung und Bekämpfung von Infektionskrankheiten beim Menschen, Infection Act, act on protection and prevention of infectious diseases in man) and the recommendations of the Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention Committee of the Robert Koch Institute, implementation of prewarming is clearly recommended. ⋯ Using a locally adapted concept for the implementation of prewarming does not lead to inefficiency in the perioperative process. In contrast, the implementation can help to achieve stable arrival times for patients in the OR.
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Observational Study
[Prediction of further hospital treatment for emergency patients by emergency medical service physicians.]
Prehospital assessment of illness and injury severity with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) score and hospital pre-arrival notification of a patient who is likely to need intensive care unit (ICU) or intermediate care unit (IMC) admission are both common in Germany's physician-staffed emergency medical services (EMS) system. ⋯ Prehospital NACA scores indicate the need for inpatient treatment, but neither hospital discharge or admission nor need of IMC or ICU admission after initial ED treatment could be sufficiently predicted by EMS physicians. Thus, hospital prenotification in order to predispose IMC or ICU capacities does not seem to be useful in cases where an ED can reassess admitted EMS patients.
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Peripheral electrical nerve stimulation is one of the standard applications in peripheral regional anesthesia in addition to the ultrasound technique. Among other findings, the visualization of needle and nerve during ultrasound-guided blockade caused a change in clinical practice of peripheral nerve stimulation in the last decade. In the present article old and new aspects of principles and clinical practice of the nerve stimulation technique are presented and summarized in a total clinical concept in order to achieve safe and successful peripheral regional anesthesia using electrical peripheral nerve stimulation.
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Many commonly available trauma scores predict mortality, but to evaluate the success of a certain therapy or for difficult scientific and epidemiological purposes this may be insufficient in the face of improved survival rates. For outcome analysis of multiple trauma patients, the extent of medical resources needed could be an additional outcome measurement. McPeek et al. developed a potential scoring system for elective surgery patients, which was recently modified for multiple trauma patients. ⋯ The modified McPeek score is applicable to multiple trauma patients to assess outcome for scientific or epidemiological purposes. Its main advantage is that it quantifies outcome independently of regional or national circumstances.
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There is no sound information concerning the safe and correct use of analgesics and anesthetics during the lactation period based on studies with a large sample size. Available information is limited to case studies and small sample observations. ⋯ Although some drugs are not officially licensed for use during lactation they need to be administered in daily (off-label) use. This review gives an overview about the recent knowledge and clinical experience concerning the perioperative use of anesthetics and analgesics during breast feeding.