The Ulster medical journal
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Two hundred children underwent day-care surgery using peripheral nerve blockade as an adjunct to general anaesthesia during a twelve month period. Total post-operative analgesia was achieved in 86%, simple oral analgesia was needed in 9% and the remaining 5% of patients required systemic opiate administration for pain.
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Twenty anaesthetic rooms and operating theatres in Northern Ireland were visited in both 1990 and 1992. Data was collected on the availability and use of anaesthetic monitoring. ⋯ In the theatres more monitors were available and in use. Some change in practice had occurred between 1990 and 1992, notably an increase in the monitoring of ventilation, and in the availability of printer facilities for documentation of anaesthetic records.
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Two separate studies were carried out to determine if three visual analogue scales for various feelings including pain could be marked consistently by patients, without reference to previously completed scales. Sixty patients undergoing extraction of their lower third molars had measurements of acute preoperative anxiety, expected postoperative pain and postoperative perceived pain three times in quick succession. There was no significant difference between the three measurements for any of the feelings. ⋯ Mean scores for anxiety, mood and pain relief were consistent, but mean pain scores were more variable. There was a very close correlation between any two feelings expressed on these visual analogue scales during both the initial and second visits. Litigation or social problems were not associated with increased pain scores.