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THE INDEPENDENT MONTHLY NEWSPAPER FOR ANESTHESIOLOGISTS AnesthesiologyNews.com • N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 0 • Volume 36 Number 11
NQF-Endorsed Outcome Measures Target Critical Care Review of additional measures planned
T
he National Quality Forum has endorsed eight outcome measures pertaining to pulmonary and cardiovascular conditions and patient care in the intensive care unit. Included in the measures are the paired outcomes of ICU length of stay and in-hospita l mortality. see quality page 34
Computers Find New Ways To Muddle Prescriptions
P
unching a prescription into a computer may keep a doctor’s sloppy penmanship from misleading the dispensing pharmacist, but a new study suggests that it also can lead to its own dangerous mishaps. “There’s a big conversion to electronic prescribing going on today,” said David W. Bates, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, in Boston. “But there is a downside to the technology, as we found: Nearly any electronic prescribing application can create new errors as well as prevent them.” The researchers presented their findings at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, in San Diego (abstract 183)—which might not seem like the see muddle page 14
Efforts Increase To Curb Rise of Illegitimate Pain Clinics in Florida
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lorida’s state legislators are taking aggressive measures to halt an epidemic of opiate-related deaths in that state, hoping to intervene in the seven-plus mortalities that occur daily as a result of prescription drug overdoses. Implementing Senate Bill 2272, they hope, will end the proliferation of “pill mills” and help shut down those already in business. The bill, which went into effect Oct. 1, mandates the creation of a statewide prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP), delineates narrow conditions to establish a pain
violations, once management clinic, identified,” said limits the amount of Sonya Pease, MD, controlled substances FSA president. physicians can preThe FSA has scribe and restricts been calling for the advertisement of establishment of a pain treatments. prescription drug The Florida Socimonitoring program ety of Anesthesiolsince the early part of ogists (FSA) hailed the decade, Dr. Pease the new measure. said. “While the first The Florida Pain version of the law does Clinic law “was desperately needed by law enforce- have its drawbacks, such as the ment so that ‘pill mill’ operators need for a physical examination by could be charged with criminal see Florida page 28
INSIDE 12 | TECHNOLOGY For spinal anesthesia, scan first, puncture less.
16 | CLINICAL ANESTHESIOLOGY Novel clot analyzer could alter OR practice.
24 | CLINICAL ANESTHESIOLOGY Failing the VTE test.
32 | PAIN MEDICINE Noninvasive method for facet joint denervation.
26 | Procedural Sedation for the Difficult Patient
FEATUREDPRODUCTS
Capnostream & IPI from Oridion, see page 14.
Airtraq® from Prodol, see page 34.
CMESPECIALREPORT
Brain Monitoring of Anesthetic Effect, see insert at page 18.