British journal of perioperative nursing : the journal of the National Association of Theatre Nurses
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Predicting which patients will experience postoperative nausea and vomiting is difficult. Prophylactic antiemetic administration has been shown to reduce unplanned admission after day case surgery. ⋯ The recent withdrawal of droperidol due to reports of cardiac arrhythmias and the potential for sudden death has left a vacancy for a safe and effective antiemetic. This article explores the published literature for alternatives to droperidol as a single dose or prophylaxis in patient controlled analgesia devices.
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Dr Chris Aps has been involved, since the early 1980s, with the impact of the surgical patient on critical care provision. At that time, he established clinical techniques to lower patient dependency after cardiac surgery. This allowed for the postoperative management of such patients in a general recovery facility rather than in the formal Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This became known as cardiac fast-tracking and led to the development of the Overnight Intensive Recovery (OIR) concept.