Annual review of nursing research
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Review Comparative Study
The Neurotoxicity of General Anesthetic Drugs: Emphasis on the Extremes of Age.
A substantial body of research suggests that anesthetic exposure to patients who are very young or very old may impair cognitive, behavioral, and emotional development or recovery. In lower animal models of pre- and postnatal age, anesthetic exposure may impact inflammation, synaptogenesis, neuronal apoptosis, and glial cell development. To date, research in humans is inconclusive regarding the long-term cognitive and behavioral sequelae of general anesthesia in the young child. ⋯ Existing neurological degenerative processes and other comorbidities in combination with the stress of surgery make evaluating the independent impact of anesthetic exposure difficult. Advances in research, imaging, and partnerships have enhanced the potential for understanding the impact of anesthetic exposure. In both populations, the resulting data and limitations faced in initial research efforts are catalysts for current prospective studies.
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Cannot intubate/cannot ventilate (CICV) situations during anesthesia are rare, potentially catastrophic to the patient, and difficult to predict. Widely adopted practice guidelines advocate an algorithmic approach to CICV situations in which the anesthetist: (a) recognizes the CICV situation, (b) calls for help, (c) steadily progresses through a variety of methods to ventilate the patient and secure the airway, (d) restores ventilation via an infraglottic airway if the patient cannot be safely awakened prior to becoming moribund. Despite widespread consensus that rapid progression to placement of an infraglottic airway is critical to the survival of the patient in a CICV situation, the rarity of CICV is a substantial barrier for anesthetists attempting to gain and maintain skill at placing infraglottic airways. ⋯ These findings have implications for how nurse anesthetists should learn and sustain the skill of infraglottic airway placement. Nurse anesthetists should undergo initial training that requires the repetitive placement of infraglottic airways, and receive sustainment training every 6 to 12 months thereafter. Although rarely used, the skill of an anesthetist in infraglottic airway placement can mean the difference between life and death for the patient in a CICV situation.