Anesthesiology clinics
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Supraglottic airway devices (SGAs) offer certain advantages over endotracheal intubation, making them particularly well suited for the specific demands of outpatient anesthesia. Patients may tolerate the placement and maintenance of an SGA at a lower dose of anesthetic than that needed for an endotracheal tube; neuromuscular blocking agents are rarely necessary for airway management with an SGA; the incidence of airway morbidity is lower with SGAs than with endotracheal tubes; and SGAs may facilitate faster recovery and earlier discharge of patients. ⋯ Newer variants of the original laryngeal mask airway, the LMA Classic (LMA North America, Inc), as well as an array of other recently developed SGAs, aim to address these limitations. Their utility and safety in specific patient populations (eg, the morbidly obese) and during certain procedures (eg, laparoscopic surgery) remain to be determined.
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Anesthesiology clinics · Jun 2010
ReviewOffice based--is my anesthetic care any different? Assessment and management.
Office-based anesthesia (OBA) is a unique and challenging venue, and, although the clinical outcomes have not been evaluated extensively, existing data indicate a need for increased regulation and additional education. Outcomes in OBA can be improved by education not only of anesthesiologists but also of surgeons, proceduralists, and nursing staff. Legislators must be educated so that appropriate regulations are instituted governing the practice of office-based surgery and the lay public must be educated to make wise, informed decisions about choice of surgery location. The leadership of societies, along with support from the membership, must play a key role in this educational process; only then can OBA become as safe as the anesthesia care in traditional venues.
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Anesthesiology clinics · Jun 2010
ReviewChallenges in pediatric ambulatory anesthesia: kids are different.
The care of the child having ambulatory surgery presents a specific set of challenges to the anesthesia provider. This review focuses on areas of clinical distinction that support the additional attention children often require, and on clinical controversies that require providers to have up-to-date information to guide practice and address parental concerns. These include perioperative risk; obstructive sleep apnea; obesity; postoperative nausea and vomiting; neurocognitive outcomes; and specific concerns regarding common ear, nose, and throat procedures.
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Anesthesiology clinics · Jun 2010
ReviewPostoperative pain management after ambulatory surgery: role of multimodal analgesia.
Multimodal (or balanced) analgesia represents an increasingly popular approach to preventing postoperative pain. The approach involves administering a combination of opioid and nonopioid analgesics. ⋯ Early studies evaluating approaches to facilitating the recovery process have demonstrated that the use of multimodal analgesic techniques can improve early recovery as well as other clinically meaningful outcomes after ambulatory surgery. The potential beneficial effects of local anesthetics, NSAIDs, and gabapentanioids in improving perioperative outcomes continue to be investigated.
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The number of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions performed under sedation is growing rapidly. While providing patients with an improved experience secondary to anxiolysis, analgesia, and amnesia, sedation also puts them at risk for associated cardiorespiratory and other complications. ⋯ The combination of patient characteristics, procedural factors, and side effects associated with each medication places each patient at risk and therefore, vigilance during sedation cannot be overemphasized. Due vigilance includes proper monitoring, training, staffing, and equipment, all of which are essential to the safe delivery of sedation.