sa t th e Bo SCA oth an 32 nua 2 lm ee ti n g, Vis
it u
Always Available Online @ AnesthesiologyNews.com
THE INDEPENDENT MONTHLY NEWSPAPER FOR ANESTHESIOLOGISTS AnesthesiologyNews.com • M a r c h 2 0 1 3 • Volume 39 Number 3
In Operating Room, A Switch to Prefilled Syringes Pays Off San Juan, Puerto Rico—Incorporating standardized, ready-to-use (RTU) anesthetics in the operating rooms helped one hospital in St. Louis significantly increase proper labeling of medicines and reduce medication waste. Researchers from Barnes-Jewish Hospital say their medication intervention, presented at the Society of Critical Care Medicine Medicine’ss annual annua congress, more than doubled labeling coompliance and nearly eliminated medicattion waste. To better meet a medication safety pparadigm established durin ng a consensus conferencce convened in 2010 by the Anesthesia see prefilled page 30
Near-Miss Data Show Si f
Washington—Although hough nearly nearl 15% of hospital-based anesthesia occurs outside id the h operating room, clinicians have little data on rates of morbidity and mortality in these locations. But the evidence that does exist points to a cause for concern. A new study by California
08 | COMMENTARY When it comes to hospital care, it’s not how you look.
T
Kevin King
he United States is observing a sesquicentennial remembrance of the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict the nation has ever experienced. In battle after battle from the spring of 1861 until April 1865, Americans fought and killed one another for reasons still debated today. The conflict claimed the lives of some 620,000 soldiers (and possibly many more) and left hundreds of thousands wounded. In an article published in 1988, surgeon F. William Blaisdell identified eight medical advances that of hospitals, sanitation and hygiene, female nurses, and occurred during the Civil War years. These develop- the vast experience with management, surgery and ments involved recordkeeping, management of mass anesthesia gained by numerous physicians. casualties in a timely fashion—the standardization of The source of much of our knowledge about medical the ambulance corps being a critical example—design see Civil War page 46
FEATURED PRODUCT
VivaSight from ETView, see pages 20 & 25.
Rusch EZ-Blocker Endobronchial Blocker from Teleflex, see page 32.
SPECIAL REPORT
Transdermal PCA in Acute Postoperative Pain Management, see insert at page 24.
see near miss page 36
INSIDE
‘The Merciful Magic of Ether’— Anesthetics in the Civil War
NEW PRODUCT
researchers shows that near misses in n non– operatin ng room anesthesia (NORA) may be on the rise, rise a significant worry given en that th adverse events in these locations are as associated with a higher severity verity of injury and are more likely to result l in death than those occurring in operating rooms (Curr Opin Anaesthesioll 2006; 19:436-442). “My clinical experience suggested that provision of anesthesia outside the operating room
16 | TECHNOLOGY 2013 on track for more interoperability standards.
32 | PRN What’s in your stomach? Hospital food goes gourmet.
42 | PAIN MEDICINE The great divide in global access to pain relief.
14 | Perioperative Patient Monitoring: Case Studies In Cardiac Surgery (Part 2 of a 3-Part Series)