Acta anaesthesiologica Belgica
-
Acta Anaesthesiol Belg · Jan 1998
Emergence from target-controlled anesthesia with propofol and sufentanil in patients undergoing intracranial surgery.
The study was designed to characterise the emergence from target-controlled anesthesia assessed by the recovery of spontaneous breathing, eye opening to command, and extubation in 18 adult patients undergoing intracranial surgery. Total intravenous anesthesia was induced and maintained with propofol and sufentanil. Target plasma concentration of propofol ranged between 3.0 and 5.5 micrograms.ml-1 and infusion was stopped after head dressing. ⋯ The calculated plasma propofol concentrations recorded at emergence were not correlated with patient age, total dose of propofol, and duration of infusion; corresponding calculated sufentanil concentrations were not correlated with age and total dose of sufentanil. An inverse relationship (p < 0.05) was found between the duration of sufentanil infusion and the calculated sufentanil concentrations at emergence. No correlation was observed between calculated concentrations of propofol and sufentanil at emergence.
-
From this national survey, it appears that anesthesiologists work on average 60 hours per week in a hospital; male anesthesiologists an average of 11 percent more than their female colleagues. Age had no major conflict on the average working hours: recently qualified anesthesiologist are fully integrated into the work schedule from the very start; weekly working hours remain virtually unchanged until the age of sixty and then gradually decrease. The average anesthesiologist devotes slightly more than half of his time (i.e. roughly 30 hours) to anesthesia in the operating room (OR); another important area of activity is intensive care, on average slightly over 8 hours per week or 15 percent of his overall time. ⋯ Over three quarters of respondents indicate a job satisfaction of 7 on a scale ranging from 0 to 10; this mark might be further increased by a higher salary and by an improved image of their profession. Pain management is the area of anesthesiology that needs to be developed first. The respondents considered professional insurance, medico-legal problems, and an excess of anesthesiologists, as main sensitive points for the future development of this specialty.