Regional anesthesia and pain medicine
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Aug 2021
Hospital safety-net burden is associated with increased inpatient mortality after elective total knee arthroplasty: a retrospective multistate review, 2007-2018.
Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is among the most common surgical procedures performed in the USA and comprises an outsized proportion of Medicare expenditures. Previous work-associated higher safety-net burden hospitals with increased morbidity and in-hospital mortality following total hip arthroplasty. Here, we examine the association of safety-net burden on postoperative outcomes after TKA. ⋯ Patients undergoing TKA at higher safety-net burden hospitals are associated with higher odds of in-patient mortality than those at low safety-net burden hospitals. The source of this mortality differential is unknown but could be related to the increased risk of intraoperative complications at higher burden centers.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Aug 2021
Effect of preoperative cannabis use on perioperative outcomes: a retrospective cohort study.
The reported use of cannabis within surgical population is increasing. Cannabis use is potentially associated with increased harms and varied effects on pain control. These have important implications to perioperative care. ⋯ Our results do not demonstrate a convincing association between self-reported cannabis use and major surgical outcomes or pain management. Perioperative decisions should be made based on considerations of dose, duration, and indication.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Aug 2021
Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia: feasibility and effectiveness of teaching via telesimulation in Ethiopia.
Acute pain management in resource-poor countries remains a challenge. Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia is a cost-effective way of delivering analgesia in these settings. However, for financial and logistical reasons, educational workshops are inaccessible to many physicians in these environments. Telesimulation provides a way of teaching across distance by using simulators and video-conferencing software to connect instructors and students worldwide. We conducted a prospective study to determine the feasibility of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia teaching via telesimulation in Ethiopia. ⋯ Teaching ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia of the femoral nerve remotely via telesimulation is feasible. Telesimulation can greatly improve the accessibility of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia teaching to physicians in remote areas.
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Misalignment of measures, measurement and analysis with the goals and methods of quality improvement efforts in healthcare may create confusion and decrease effectiveness. In healthcare, measurement is used for accountability, research, and quality improvement, so distinguishing between these is an important first step. Using a case vignette, this paper focuses on using measurement for improvement to gain insight into the dynamic nature of healthcare systems and to assess the impact of interventions. ⋯ SPC provides ongoing assessment of system functioning and enables an improvement team to assess the impact of its own interventions and external forces on the system. Once improvement work is completed, the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) guidelines is a valuable tool to describe the rationale, context, and study of the interventions. SQUIRE can be used to plan improvement work as well as structure a manuscript for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
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Reg Anesth Pain Med · Aug 2021
MRI and muscle enzymes do not support the diagnosis of local anesthetic myotoxicity: a descriptive case series.
The presence of thigh muscle edema as characterized by increased signal intensity on MRI has been used to support the diagnosis of presumed local anesthetic-induced myotoxicity reported after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with continuous adductor canal block (CACB). However, neither postoperative baseline imaging appearance nor muscle enzyme values have been described in conjunction with this clinical scenario. Thus, the usefulness of MRI or enzymatic biomarkers of muscle injury for supporting the diagnosis of local anesthetic myotoxicity is unknown. ⋯ The non-specificity of these findings suggests that MRI and near normal muscle enzyme levels are of limited diagnostic value when there is clinical suspicion of local anesthetic myotoxicity in the setting of TKA with CACB.