British journal of anaesthesia
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Peripheral and truncal nerve blocks provide effective analgesia facilitating perioperative care. However, thresholds for clinically relevant effects remain undetermined and are left for clinicians to choose. These choices are fundamental for sample size calculations and interpretation of study results. This systematic scoping review aimed to create an overview of primary outcomes and anticipated effect sizes in randomised clinical trials assessing peripheral and truncal nerve blocks. ⋯ The presented outcomes and effect sizes from published trials on peripheral and truncal nerve block literature can be used in future trials to increase homogeneity in regional anaesthesia research.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Early noninvasive ventilation in general wards for acute respiratory failure: an international, multicentre, open-label, randomised trial.
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Editorial Review
Neuroanatomical and pharmaco-physiological effects of hypoxia and esketamine on breathing, the sympathetic nerve system, and cortical function.
Acute hypoxic ventilatory response is an important reflex that helps maintain breathing during low oxygen levels, but it is attenuated by most general anaesthetics. Analgesic doses of ketamine and esketamine are known to have respiratory stimulant effects. ⋯ Participants also exhibited higher levels of alertness and unpleasant psychotropic effects compared with the control condition. We review the pharmaco-physiological effects of acute hypoxia and its interactions with esketamine. We provide a summary of the effects of hypoxia and esketamine on the neurocircuitry that leads to arousal, activation of the sympathetic nerve system, and increased drive to upper airway dilator and respiratory pump muscles.
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Multicenter Study
Evaluation of point-of-care haemoglobin measurement accuracy in surgery (PREMISE) and implications for transfusion practice: a prospective cohort study.
Point-of-care testing devices to measure haemoglobin (Hgb) frequently inform transfusion decision-making in surgery. This study aimed to examine their accuracy in surgery, focusing on Hgb concentrations of 60-100 g L-1, a range with higher potential for transfusion. ⋯ No point-of-care Hgb device demonstrated limits of agreement that were smaller than the agreement difference of 4 g L-1. Despite this, HemoCue can be safely used to inform transfusion decisions in surgery, given its error probability of <4% in transfusion scenarios.
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Most postoperative deaths occur on general wards, often linked to complications associated with untreated changes in vital signs. Monitoring in these units is typically intermittent checks each shift or maximally every 4-6 h, which misses prolonged periods of subtle changes in physiology that can herald a critical downstream event. Continuous monitoring of vital signs is therefore intuitively necessary for patient safety. ⋯ Evidence from before and after studies and retrospective propensity-matched data suggests that continuous ward monitoring decreases the risk of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, rapid response calls, and in some instances, mortality. This review summarises the history of general ward monitoring and describes future directions, including opportunities to implement these devices using artificial intelligence, pattern detection, and user-friendly interfaces. Pragmatic, well designed and appropriately powered trials, and real-world implementation data are necessary to make continuous monitoring standard practice at every hospital bed.