Editor's Note Eliminating opioids from general anesthesia is safe and effective and significantly decreases postoperative nausea, finds this study presented October 23 at the Anesthesiology 2017 annual meeting in Boston. Of 1,009 patients who received general anesthesia without opioids, only 11% experienced postoperative nausea--typically 50% to 80% of patients have…

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Editor's Note Patients significantly overestimate the amount of pain they will experience after surgery, which can cause unnecessary anxiety, finds a study presented October 21 at the Anesthesiology 2017 annual meeting in Boston. A total of 223 patients completed a questionnaire before and after surgery to evaluate the level of…

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Editor's Note In patients 85 years of age and older, surgical complexity and certain geriatric variables (malnutrition, frailty), which are overlooked in American Society of Anesthesiologists and most other scores, were relevant in predicting postoperative outcomes and mortality, finds this study. Of 127 patients who completed follow-up, 30-day mortality was…

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Throughput inefficiencies are a growing problem in surgical services departments. Patients are held in the OR because there is no room in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), and patients are held in the PACU because there are no beds available in the patient care unit or because outpatients having major…

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Editor's Note After implementation of an anesthesia information management system (AIMS)-based mandatory quality assurance process for reporting of intraoperative adverse events at two academic medical centers, documented adverse events decreased significantly, this study finds. Over a 2-year period after implementation of mandatory reporting, the adverse event rate at Thomas Jefferson…

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Editor's Note This meta-analysis found that patients at higher risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as determined by preoperative STOP-Bang screening, had a higher risk of postoperative adverse events and longer length of hospital stay, compared with lower risk-OSA patients. The analysis included 10 studies with 23,609 patients (7,877 high-risk…

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Editor's Note In this analysis of patient falls from OR and procedure tables during anesthesia care, researchers queried two independent closed claims databases. They identified 21 claims (1.2% of cases) in the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Closed Claims Project and 0.07% of cases in the secure records of a…

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Organizations that have adopted the perioperative surgical home (PSH) model of patient care have reaped the benefits of improved outcomes and a healthier bottom line. In particular, the PSH has a proven track record for colorectal surgery and orthopedic surgery. In part 1 of this two-part series (OR Manager, August…

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Editor's Note Children with multiple exposures to anesthesia before age 3 are more likely to develop adverse outcomes related to learning and attention, this study finds. Of 116 multiply exposed, 457 singly exposed, and 463 unexposed children included in the analysis, multiple, but not single, anesthesia exposures were associated with…

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Editor's Note This population-based analysis finds that implementation of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) interventions in total joint patients is limited, with some current trends virtually in contrast to practice guidelines. Of more than 1 million patients analyzed, anesthetic techniques did not differ by OSA status, and overall, less than 25%…

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