Postanesthesia Care Unit Discharge Research Articles

Comparative observation of the effectiveness and safety of remimazolam besylate versus dexmedetomidine in gastrointestinal surgery in obese patients.

Surgery for obese patients carries a higher risk of anesthesia complications compared with surgery for nonobese patients. Thus, a safe and effective anesthesia strategy is necessary to improve the medical experience of such patients and ensure their safety. To compared the effectiveness and safety of remimazolam besylate versus dexmedetomidine (DEX) in gastrointestinal surgery in obese patients. The study cohort included 60 obese patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery between July 2021 and April 2023, comprising 30 patients who received DEX intervention (control group) and 30 patients who received remimazolam besylate intervention (research group). Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), safety (nausea and vomiting, bradycardia, hypotension, and apnea), anesthesia and examination indices [induction time, anesthesia recovery time, and postanesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge time], sedation effect (Ramsay Sedation Scale), and postoperative pain visual analog scale were comparatively analyzed before anesthesia (T0), during anesthesia (T1), and after anesthesia (T2). At T1, the research group showed significantly smaller changes in HR, RR, MAP, and SpO2 than the control group, with a significantly lower adverse reaction rate and shorter induction, anesthesia recovery, and PACU discharge times. Additionally, the intra- and postoperative Ramsay Sedation Scale scores were statistically higher in the research group than in the control group. Remimazolam besylate was significantly more effective than DEX in gastrointestinal surgery in obese patients and had a higher safety profile and value in clinical promotion.

Characterization of Speech and Language Deficits in the Postanesthesia Care Unit: A Novel, Qualitative Cognitive Assessment

BACKGROUND: Assessing recovery after general anesthesia is complicated because patients must be sufficiently arousable to pay attention to the verbal instructions probing cognitive function. All delirium screens that have been used in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) rely heavily on a patient’s ability to process language information and respond appropriately. However, postanesthesia effects on speech-language functions have not been specifically evaluated. Here we present a novel, qualitative PACU evaluation for cognitive domains critical for speech-language functions, and we compare this assessment against a multidomain neurocognitive examination: Telephonic Montreal Cognitive Assessment (t-MoCA). This may be used to identify trajectories of neurocognitive recovery after surgery with general anesthesia and provide neuroanatomic correlates for specific deficits. METHODS: We investigated 48 patients undergoing general anesthesia for noncardiac and nonneurologic elective surgeries. Preoperatively, participants were administered our PACU speech-language assessment (PACU-SLA) and t-MoCA. Both assessments were again administered postoperatively in the PACU. Different versions of PACU-SLA were administered pre- versus postoperatively. Twenty-three participants randomly received the same t-MoCA versions (group AA), and 25 participants received different versions (group AB), pre- versus postoperatively. Assessments were administered ≥30 minutes after PACU arrival, and before PACU discharge. Statistical analysis was performed using Wilcoxon-signed-rank tests for nonnormally distributed paired data, analysis of covariance for assessing the impact of group (AA versus AB) and preoperative scores on postoperative scores, and χ2 tests for unpaired categorical data (P < .05 indicating significance). RESULTS: After adjusting for preoperative scores, the postoperative t-MoCA scores of group AB were significantly lower than group AA (F[1–46] = 21.7, P < .001). Similarly, the t-MoCA scores of episodic-memory (delayed-recall) decreased in group AB (F[1–46] = 48.6, P < .001). For PACU-SLA, there were no postoperative changes in auditory-comprehension and object-naming scores, but a decrease was observed in (1) scores of a 9-point narrative-production task of expressive-fluency (n = 48; median [25th–75th]; preoperative: 9[9–9], postoperative: 7[7–8], P < .001), and (2) total words generated in 2 30-second tasks of verbal-fluency (n = 48; median[25th–75th]: preoperative: 23[12.5–33.5], postoperative: 16.5[9.5–26.5], P < .001). Scores on a 4-point sentence-repetition task were also noted to decrease postoperatively (n = 48; median[25th–75th]; preoperative: 4[3–4], postoperative: 4[3–4], P = .04). When grouping participants by preoperative cognitive status (pMCI, n = 9; preoperative normal, n = 39), both groups showed postoperative changes in verbal-fluency (F[1–46] = 6.97, P = .01) and narrative-production scores (F[1–46] = 5.51, P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: The PACU-SLA revealed lower fluency (hypophonia) with relatively intact comprehension, naming, and repetition, during recovery from general anesthesia. These deficits share features with transcortical motor aphasia.

Effect of remimazolam on postoperative sleep quality in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy: A randomized controlled trial

IntroductionRemimazolam is a new sedative-hypnotic drug, which has been demonstrated to be safe and effective for the induction and maintenance of anesthesia, but its effects on the postoperative sleep quality of patients remain unknown. MethodsPatients enrolled in this study were randomly received remimazolam (Group R) or propofol (Group P) for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. The primary outcome was the Athens insomnia scale (AIS) score. The secondary outcomes included smart wristband data on the first night after surgery, the Ramsay sedation scale score at 1 h postoperatively, time from drug withdrawal to laryngeal mask removal, postanesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge time, postoperative nausea and vomiting, intraoperative awareness and reported adverse reactions. ResultsThe AIS score on postoperative day 1 was higher in group R compared with group P, but no significant difference was found between the two groups in 8 items of the AIS on postoperative day 1. Additionally, there was no significant difference in the proportion of patients with suspected insomnia and insomnia between the two groups at POD 1. The monitoring data of smart wristband found that compared with group P, the total sleep duration of the first night after surgery of group R was decreased, and the proportion of deep sleep was reduced. Moreover, the time from drug withdrawal to laryngeal mask removal and PACU discharge time was longer in group R than group P. The Ramsay sedation scale score at 1 h postoperatively was higher in group R than group P. There were no statistically significant differences between groups for postoperative nausea and vomiting. Furthermore, neither group experienced any intraoperative awareness or serious adverse events. ConclusionsTotal intravenous anesthesia using remimazolam decreased postoperative sleep quality in patients undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy compared to propofol. The effect of remimazolam on postoperative sleep quality may primarily manifest in the severity rather than the incidence of insomnia. Patients needed a more extended recovery period afterward and had higher sedation scores following recovery.

Abstract TP50: Ensuring Safe Post-Procedure Throughput for CEA and CAS Patients

Background: A new policy was implemented in November 2021 to reduce the length of post-anesthesia-care-unit (PACU) stay from 6 hours to 4 hours to reduce the nursing care burden and decrease the length of stay, yet how it affected patients’ events after PACU discharge needed close evaluation. Thus, the QI project aimed to retrospectively examine unexpected or safety events of patients who underwent carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy procedures before versus after implementing the new policy. Objective: To compare and examine the rates of unexpected or safety events that occurred before (5/1/2021 - 10/31/2021; PRE) vs. after (2/1/2022 - 7/31/2022; POST) adoption of the new policy. Methods: A determination of IRB review was granted for the retrospective QI project. The unexpected or safety events included patient issues (rapid response calls, STAT calls to service, or bounce back to a higher level of care) and issues with VS or neuro assessment variability. For group comparison, Fisher’s Exact tests were used for dichotomous information, and the Mann-Whitney U tests were performed for continuous data. Results: A total of 145 patients were identified during the study period composing 75 (51.7%) PRE and 70 (48.3%) POST patients. The rates of VS or neuro assessment variability were similar in both groups (PRE: 1.3% vs. POST: 1.3%, p =1.000). Though we saw a lower rate of patient issues within 24 hours on the floor in POST (4.3%), the difference was not statistically significant (PRE: 8.0%, p =0.496). Conclusion: Inefficient patient throughput can impact currently strained hospital resources. Findings of the QI project confirmed that the new policy did not incur a higher rate of instability on the nursing unit. This data lends confidence to Vascular Surgery and Stroke programs as they seek to streamline patient care and manage hospital resources.

Efficacy of perioperative lidocaine infusion on surgical field quality during functional endoscopic sinus surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis.

To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed the efficacy of perioperative intravenous lidocaine versus placebo in improving the quality of surgical field during functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and CENTRAL were thoroughly searched from inception until June 2023. The included RCTs were evaluated via RoB-2 tool. Our primary endpoint included intraoperative surgical field quality, and secondary endpoints involved operative duration, estimated blood loss, time for post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge, postoperative pain, mean difference in heart rate (HR), and mean difference in mean arterial pressure (MAP). Continuous data were pooled as mean difference (MD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) via RevMan software. Also, the certainty of evidence for each outcome were assessed according to the GRADE system. Four RCTs with total of 267 patients were included. Regarding the intraoperative quality of surgical field, the results indicated a significant difference in favor of the lidocaine group compared to the placebo group (n = 3 RCTs, MD - 0.80, 95% CI [- 0.98, - 0.61], p < 0.001, moderate certainty of evidence). The trial sequential analysis showed there is a substantial and conclusive evidence. Regarding time for PACU discharge, there was a significant difference that favor lidocaine group (p < 0.05). On the contrary, there was no significant difference between lidocaine and placebo groups in terms of operative duration, estimated blood loss, postoperative pain, mean change in MAP and HR, (p > 0.05). Our review revealed that lidocaine infusion, compared with a placebo, significantly improved the surgical field and shortened the time required for PACU discharge. However, lidocaine did not reduce surgery time, estimated blood loss, postoperative pain, MAP, or HR.

Effect of Intravenous Aminophylline on Hemodynamics and Recovery of Patients Undergoing Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Under Dexmedetomidine Hypotensive Anesthesia: A Randomized Controlled Study.

The sympatholytic property of dexmedetomidine (DEX) makes it suitable as a hypotensive drug during functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS); however, delayed emergence from anesthesia and high postoperative sedation have been reported. Delayed emergence from anesthesia and high postoperative sedation are associated with a prolonged length of stay in the operating room and the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), which increases health care costs. This study aimed to overcome the negative impact of DEX on recovery by using aminophylline. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 52 patients planned for elective FESS under general anesthesia with DEX infusion for controlled hypotension during surgery. Patients were equally divided into 2 groups. The aminophylline group received 4 mg/kg aminophylline diluted in 50 mL saline 0.9% over 30 minutes after positioning in a 20-degree reverse Trendelenburg position. The control group received 50 mL saline 0.9% with a similar volume and period as the aminophylline group. The extubation time was significantly shorter in the aminophylline group (6.5 (5.25 - 7.75) minutes) than in the control group (9 (7.25 - 10) minutes) (P-value < 0.001). The PACU discharge time was significantly shorter in the aminophylline group (15 (10 - 20) minutes) compared to the control group (20 (15 - 28.75) minutes) (P-value = 0.036). Intraoperative heart rate and mean arterial pressure were nonsignificantly different between the 2 groups. Ramsay sedation score measurements at 15 min, 30 min, and 60 min after extubation were significantly lower in the aminophylline than in the control group (P-value < 0.05). Complications were nonsignificantly different between the 2 groups. Intraoperative aminophylline infusion enhances the recovery of patients undergoing FESS under DEX hypotensive anesthesia without intraoperative hemodynamic alterations and decreases their postoperative sedation without significant postoperative side effects.

A Multi‐disciplinary Team Approach for Educating Providers to Recognize Delirium in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit

AbstractBackgroundPostoperative delirium is common in older adults and has significant associated morbidity and mortality. However, screening is rarely performed in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU). For this reason, clinical researchers of delirium and a tertiary care interdisciplinary delirium Task Force Team proposed to address this area of patient safety.MethodA multidisciplinary team met to complete 3 hospital learning objectives. First, to develop an educational toolkit on PACU delirium identification with feedback from hospital stakeholders on topics to be trained, implementation into medical records, and finalizing training videos/powerpoint/quiz modules. Second, to train every PACU nurse on delirium identification. An EPIC form was created with detailed instructions for completing and documenting the CAM‐ICU and included in the PACU discharge checklist. All PACU nursing staff were assigned the module, and delirium screening was made mandatory for all patients aged 65 years or older. Following module assignment, perceived value, satisfaction, and barriers were surveyed to inform modification of training and implementation. Third, delirium screening rates were monitored.ResultsNurses (n = 110) were assigned postoperative delirium training modules across 3 PACUs starting July 2022 with a 2‐week deadline. Training completion rate was 83% after 3 months. Nurses provided positive feedback on the importance of delirium. Compliance in delirium screening in the PACU was low (&lt;10%). After meeting with nursing staff to hear concerns/barriers to training and implementation, 1 on 1 training with research staff was initiated and all PACU nursing staff completed additional training between September and October. Before project implementation, no delirium screening was performed in the PACU. Over 3 months following completion of training, of 683 patients aged 65 years and older discharged from the PACU, 83 (12%) had delirium screening documented, and 0% were flagged as positive. Rate of screening differed by surgical service and hospital location.ConclusionThis hospital learning study documents the challenges and promise of implementing a PACU delirium screening program in a tertiary care academic medical center. We present data on improved delirium recognition at the hospital level, but variation in compliance rates by surgical service. Future research needs to examine reasons for variable delirium compliance screening.

General anesthesia techniques reducing the time to satisfy phase I post-anesthesia care unit discharge criteria: Narrative review of randomized clinical trials and cohort studies studying unit bypass, supplemented with computer simulation

We performed a narrative review of bypass of the phase I post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) following general anesthesia to gain insight into ways to reduce the time until patients are ready for PACU discharge following general anesthesia. Web of Science and PubMed literature searches were performed. Publications’ references and citations were examined. The Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles’ six components were satisfied. The 14 articles included 17 studies, with nearly all patients being adults. Most studies’ patients underwent outpatient surgery with an average surgical duration of less than 100 min . The studies applied several different, but similar, criteria to choose if patients bypass the PACU. Notably, 13 of 17 studies and all five with the largest observed bypass rates used some version of the White-Song fast-track bypass criteria. Propofol was used uniformly for induction of general anesthesia. Most studies included at least one antiemetic prophylactically, a local anesthetic administered by the surgeon, and a non-opioid analgesic. The six studies with the largest observed bypass rates used remifentanil or restricted use of intraoperative opioids. We then considered economics. While achievable PACU bypass rates are insufficient to reduce healthcare costs, reducing mean PACU time markedly can lower the nursing labor costs, the total time until the last patient exits the PACU, and the incidence of patients recovering in operating rooms because of unavailable PACU nurses or beds. We examined probability distributions of brief patient recovery times by using Gas Man, an uptake and distribution software program, simulating times until reaching constant incremental reductions (0.1 %) in vessel-rich concentrations of desflurane and sevoflurane once the vaporizer was set to zero. Results showed that simulated recovery from volatile anesthetics can have recovery times appearing log-normal, as seen empirically. Thus, patients already meeting discharge criteria upon PACU arrival can be the far-left fraction of one population of patients. The implication is that the narrative review results for PACU bypass provide insight into how to have more patients with very brief times to recovery. Therefore, future studies should quantify the effectiveness and economic benefits of anesthesia practitioners aiming not for PACU bypass, per se, but rather that the patients meet PACU discharge criteria by the 5–10 min after unit arrival when the practitioner has completed PACU handoff and finished documentation in the anesthesia record.

Combined Pericapsular Nerve Group Block and Intrapelvic Lateral Femoral Cutaneous Nerve Block Is Associated With Decreased Opioid Consumption After Hip Arthroscopy: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Introduction: Ambulatory hip arthroscopies are associated with moderate-to-severe pain often requiring opioid analgesia. Novel motor-sparing blocks, the pericapsular nerve group (PENG) and lateral femoral cutaneous nerve (LFCN) block, have shown efficacy in hip surgery. Purpose: We sought to investigate the analgesic benefits of these novel blocks in terms of opioid-sparing and discharge efficiency. Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study with propensity score matching of 224 patients who underwent ambulatory elective unilateral hip arthroscopy. One group received a combined PENG and LFCN block (PENG/LFCN, n = 86), while a second group received only a PENG block (n = 26). A control group (n = 112) received no blocks. The primary outcome was postanesthesia care unit (PACU) mean opioid consumption. Secondary outcomes were maximum numeric rating scale (NRS) pain score, intravenous rescue analgesia, and PACU readiness-for-discharge times. Results: The PENG/LFCN-block group required significantly less opioids than the control group in the PACU (25.98 ± 13.04 vs 14.58 ± 5.77, respectively) and were discharged earlier 2.72 ± 1.16 vs 4.42 ± 1.63 hours, respectively). The combined PENG/LFCN group also used less intravenous rescue opioids than the control group (0.47 ± 1.18 vs 1.44 ± 2.1 mg, respectively) and showed a significant difference in the highest NRS pain scores than the control group (6.01 ± 2.38 vs 6.77 ± 2.1 respectively). The PENG block alone group did not show a significant difference in opioid reduction (21.95 ± 15.83 vs 27.72 ± 15.01, respectively). Conclusions: This retrospective study found that in patients who underwent ambulatory elective unilateral hip arthroscopy, a combined PENG and LFCN block was associated with expedited PACU discharge and a clinically significant reduction in postoperative opioid use. Further study is warranted.

Effects of Adding Intrathecal Epinephrine to Spinal Anesthesia on Anesthesia-Related Cesarean Delivery Outcomes: Should We Reconsider Its Use?

Intrathecal epinephrine is used to increase the duration of spinal anesthesia for amenable surgical procedures anticipated to require additional time; however, in the ambulatory setting, it is associated with a prolonged time to post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge. The current study's authors hypothesized that adding intrathecal epinephrine to spinal anesthesia for cesarean delivery would be associated with a dose-dependent prolonged post-anesthesia unit length of stay. A single-center, retrospective study of patients undergoing repeat cesarean delivery under spinal anesthesia from 2011 to 2015 was conducted. Patients received spinal bupivacaine 12 mg, morphine 150 mcg, and fentanyl 15 mcg with no-epinephrine, 100 mcg, or 200 mcg of epinephrine. The primary outcome was recovery room length of stay. Secondary outcomes were surgical duration, intraoperative vasopressor use, perioperative opioids, and antiemetic use. Data were analyzed for 1,362 patients. Median recovery room stay was 123 min (interquartile range, 100 to 150) and was not different among groups. More women receiving epinephrine 200 mcg had ≥2 prior cesarean deliveries compared with no-epinephrine or 100 mcg. No significant differences in surgical duration or intraoperative opioids were identified among the groups. Median intraoperative vasopressor use was increased by 225 mcg of phenylephrine equivalents (99% CI, 25 mcg to 430 mcg) in the 100 mcg group and 250 mcg of phenylephrine equivalents in the 200 mcg group (99% CI, 75 mcg to 500 mcg) compared to no-epinephrine (P<0.001). Recovery room antiemetic and opioid analgesic administration were not different among groups. Based on the results of this study, the addition of intrathecal epinephrine for women undergoing cesarean delivery increases intraoperative vasopressor use but does not prolong PACU length of stay, reduce intraoperative opioids, or increase antiemetic requirements postoperatively. The current study also demonstrated that surgical duration times were not different among the no-epinephrine, 100 mcg, and 200 mcg epinephrine groups.

Oral versus intravenous acetaminophen for perioperative pain management in adult patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery: A quantile segmented regression analysis

Study objectiveDetermine whether preferential use of perioperative enteral acetaminophen is associated with changes in perioperative pain, narcotic administration, or time to meeting criteria for post anesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge, compared to preferential parenteral administration. DesignRetrospective Cohort with quantile segmented regression analysis. Groups determined by date of surgery, one year pre-initiative and one year post-initiative. SettingOperating room and PACU of a tertiary academic medical center. PatientsAdult (age > 18 years), ASA status 1–5, non-pregnant patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery of less than six hours duration admitted to the PACU postoperatively. InterventionsA multidisciplinary initiative to preferentially utilize enteral over parenteral acetaminophen. MeasurementsThe primary outcome was narcotic consumption in the PACU. Secondary outcomes were intraoperative narcotic administration, pain score on PACU admission and discharge, and time to meeting criteria for PACU discharge. Results24,701 patients were included in the analysis; 12,379 had surgery prior to the initiative and 12,322 after. Enteral acetaminophen administration increased preoperatively from 13.49% to 26.84%, and postoperatively from 43.16% to 51.45%, while intraoperative parenteral APAP use dropped from 43.23% to 6.81%. Quantile Segmented regression analysis after adjusting for period (pre versus postintervention), day, age, gender, inpatient status, and ASA class demonstrated a decrease in adjusted median perioperative acetaminophen dose (−175 mg P < 0.001), with no significant difference in level change of intraoperative or PACU narcotic administration. There was no significant difference in median time to meet criteria for PACU discharge, though there was a significant change in the slope, (−0.36, p = 0.007.)Median pain scores measured on a standard 0–10 numeric rating scale at PACU admission did not change, while median pain scores at PACU discharge decreased slightly (−0.24 p < 0.001). There was no change in the probability of PONV. Conclusion: In adult patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery of <6 h duration, preferential use of enteral rather than parenteral acetaminophen is associated with non-inferior outcomes in narcotic requirements, pain scores, time to PACU discharge, and probability of PONV when compared with routine parenteral administration. Further studies are needed to validate these findings.

The Effectiveness of Intraoperative Thoracic Epidural Analgesia in Major Abdominal and Thoracic Surgery and Its Prediction of Severe Pain at Discharge from the Post-Anesthetic Care Unit: A Prospective Cohort Study

Objective: To assess the factors associated with ineffective thoracic epidural analgesia (iTEA) in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) among patients requiring TEA. Material and Methods: This prospective cohort was conducted on 146 patients requiring post-operative TEA. The verbal numeric rating scale (VNRS) was employed to assess TEA effectiveness on PACU arrival at 10, 20, and 30 minutes after surgery; iTEA was determined if the VNRS score was more than 3 and 4 at rest and during activity, respectively. The patient characteristics, and intra- and post-operative epidural management were collected. The risk factors of iTEA were evaluated using mixed-effects models. Moreover, factors associated with severe pain at PACU discharge were evaluated using logistic regression analyses. Results: The incidence of iTEA on PACU arrival, and at 10, 20, and 30 minutes after PACU arrival were 53.4%, 51.4%, 50.7%, and 36.3%, respectively. Intra-operative intravenous morphine supplementation and the cumulative fentanyl equivalent dose (every 10 mcg) were significantly associated with preventing the risk of iTEA on PACU arrival (OR 0.27; 95% CI=0.07-0.92) and during PACU stay (OR 0.87; 95% CI=0.77-0.97) compared to those who did not receive opioids. Moreover, iTEA on PACU arrival was a significant risk for severe pain at 30 minutes (adjusted OR 4.77; 95% CI=1.57-18.10). Conclusion: This study demonstrates a high incidence of iTEA immediately after surgery, and that intravenous opioid supplementation during and after surgery reduces the risk of iTEA. Lastly, iTEA on PACU arrival is a strong predictor of severe pain at discharge from PACU.

Perioperative Intravenous Nefopam on Pain Management and Ambulation after Open Spine Surgery: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Study.

This was a randomized double-blind controlled study. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of intravenous nefopam regarding its ability to reduce morphine consumption and postoperative pain and improve recovery in patients undergoing open spine surgery. Multimodal analgesia, including nonopioid medications, is essential for pain management in spine surgery. Evidence regarding the use of intravenous nefopam in open spine surgery as part of enhanced recovery after surgery is lacking. In this study, 100 patients undergoing lumbar decompressive laminectomy with fusion were randomized into two groups. The nefopam group received 20-mg intravenous nefopam diluted in 100-mL normal saline intraoperatively, followed by 80-mg nefopam diluted in 500-mL normal saline, administered as a continuous infusion postoperatively for 24 hours. The control group received an identical volume of normal saline. Postoperative pain was managed using intravenous morphine via patient-controlled analgesia. Morphine consumption in the first 24 hours was recorded as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes, including postoperative pain score, postoperative function, and length of hospital stay (LOS), were assessed. No statistically significant differences in the total morphine consumption and postoperative pain score in the first 24 hours postoperatively between the two groups. At the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), the nefopam group demonstrated lower pain scores while at rest (p =0.03) and upon movement (p =0.02) than the normal saline group. However, the severity of postoperative pain between the two groups was similar from postoperative day 1 to day 3. LOS was significantly shorter in the nefopam group than in the control group (p <0.01). The time to first sitting and walking and PACU discharge between the two groups were comparable. Perioperative intravenous nefopam demonstrated significant pain reduction during the early postoperative period and shortened LOS. Nefopam is considered safe and effective as a part of multimodal analgesia in open spine surgery.

Triggers for medical emergency team activation after non-cardiac surgery.

Deterioration after major surgery is common, with many patients experiencing a medical emergency team (MET) activation. Understanding the triggers for MET calls may help design interventions to prevent deterioration. We aimed to identify triggers for MET activation in non-cardiac surgical patients. A retrospective cohort study of adult patients who experienced a postoperative MET call at a single tertiary hospital was undertaken. The trigger and timing of each MET call and patient characteristics were collected.Four hundred and one MET calls occurred after 23,258 surgical procedures, a rate of 1.7% of all non-cardiac surgical procedures, accounting for 11.7% of all MET calls over the study period. Hypotension (41.4%) was the most common trigger, followed by tachycardia (18.5%), altered conscious state (11.0%), hypoxia (10.0%), tachypnoea (5.7%), 'other' (5.7%), clinical concern (4.0%), increased work of breathing (1.5%) and bradypnoea (0.7%). Cardiac and/or respiratory arrest triggered 1.2% of MET activations. Eighty-six percent of patients had a single MET call, 10.2% had two, 1.8% had three and one patient (0.3%) had four. The median interval between post-anaesthetic care unit (PACU) discharge and MET call was 14.7 h (95% confidence interval 4.2 to 28.9 h). MET calls resulted in intensive care unit (ICU) admission in 40 patients (10%), while 82% remained on the ward, 4% had a MET call shortly after ICU discharge and returned there, 2% returned to theatre, and 2% went to a high dependency unit.Hypotension was the most common trigger for MET calls after non-cardiac surgery. Deterioration frequently occurred within 24 h of PACU discharge. Future research should focus on prevention of hypotension and tachycardia after surgery.

Perioperative temperature monitoring for patient safety: A period prevalence study of five hospitals

BackgroundMonitoring body temperature is essential for safe perioperative care. Without patient monitoring during each surgical phase, alterations in core body temperature will not be recognised, prevented, or treated. Safe use of warming interventions also depends on monitoring. Yet there has been limited evaluation of temperature monitoring practices as the primary endpoint. ObjectiveTo investigate temperature monitoring practices during all stages of perioperative care. We examined what patient characteristics are associated with the rate of temperature monitoring, along with clinical variables such as warming intervention or exposure to hypothermia. DesignAn observational period-prevalence study over seven days across five Australian hospitals. SettingsFour metropolitan, tertiary hospitals and one regional hospital. ParticipantsWe selected all adult patients (N = 1690) undergoing any surgical procedure and any mode of anaesthesia during the study period. MethodsPatient characteristics, perioperative temperature data, warming interventions and exposure to hypothermia were retrospectively collected from patient charts. We describe the frequencies and distribution of temperature data at each perioperative stage, including adherence to minimum temperature monitoring based on clinical guidelines. To examine associations with clinical variables, we also modelled the rate of temperature monitoring using each patient's count of recorded temperature measurements within their calculated time interval from anaesthetic induction to postanaesthetic care unit discharge. All analyses adjusted 95% confidence intervals (CI) for patient clustering by hospital. ResultsThere were low levels of temperature monitoring, with most temperature data clustered around admission to postanaesthetic care. Over half of patients (51.8%) had two or less temperatures recorded during perioperative care and one-third (32.7%) had no temperature data at all prior to admission to postanaesthetic care. Of all patients that received active warming intervention during surgery, over two-thirds (68.5%) had no temperature monitoring recorded. In our adjusted model, associations between clinical variables and the rate of temperature monitoring often did not reflect clinical risk or need: rates were decreased for those with greatest operative risk (American Society of Anesthesiologists Classification IV: rate ratio (RR) 0.78, 95% CI 0.68–0.89; emergency surgery: RR 0.89, 0.80–0.98), and neither warming interventions (intraoperative warming: RR 1.01, 0.93–1.10; postanaesthetic care unit warming: RR 1.02, 0.98–1.07) nor hypothermia at postanaesthetic care unit admission (RR 1.12, 0.98–1.28) were associated with monitoring rate. ConclusionsOur findings point to the need for systems-level change to enable proactive temperature monitoring over all phases of perioperative care to enhance patient safety outcomes. RegistrationNot a clinical trial.

Exceedance Probabilities of Log-normal Distributions for One Group, Two Groups, and Meta-analysis of Multiple Two-group Studies, With Application to Analyses of Prolonged Times to Tracheal Extubation

Many randomized trials measure means and standard deviations of anesthesia recovery time (e.g., times to tracheal extubation). We show how to use generalized pivotal methods to compare the probabilities of exceeding a tolerance limit (e.g., > 15min, prolonged times to tracheal extubation). The topic isimportant because the economic benefits of faster anesthesia emergence depend onreducing variability, not means, especially prevention of very long recovery times. Generalized pivotal methods are applied using computer simulation (e.g., using two Excel formulas for one group and three formulas for two group comparisons). The endpoint for each study with two groups is the ratio between groups of the probabilities of times exceeding a threshold or the ratio of the standard deviations. Confidence intervals and variances for the incremental risk ratio of the exceedance probabilities and for ratios of standard deviations are calculated using studies' sample sizes, sample means in the time scale of recovery times, and sample standard deviations in the time scale. Ratios are combined among studies using the DerSimonian-Laird estimate of the heterogeneity variance estimate, with Knapp-Hartung adjustment for the relatively small (N = 15) numbers of studies in the meta-analysis. We show larger absolute variability among studies' results when analyzed based on exceedance probabilities rather than standard deviations. Therefore, if an investigator's primary goal is to quantify reductions in the variability of recovery times (e.g., times until patients are ready for post-anesthesia care unit discharge), we recommend analyzing the standard deviations. When exceedance probabilities themselves are relevant, they can be analyzed from the original studies' summary measures.

Continuous Epidural Analgesia (CEA) via Single Catheter Providing Profound Analgesia for Pediatric Patients Following Posterior Spinal Fusion (PSF) in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS).

Posterior spinal fusion (PSF) is a commonly performed orthopedic procedure to correct scoliosis in children.Continuous epidural analgesia (CEA) is a proposed means of providing analgesia following PSF.Whether a single epidural catheter with the tip in the upper thorax can provide adequate analgesia for PSF, which often spans the upper thoracic to lower lumbar regions, is unresolved in the literature. In this single-center, retrospective study, we reviewed 69 consecutive patients undergoing PSF for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) with CEA at our institution from October 1, 2020 to May 26, 2022.Data for the entire cohort was divided into two time intervals before and after epidural removal, group epidural (Epi) and group no epidural (No Epi).Daily intravenous and oral opioid morphine equivalents per kilogram (OME/kg) plus mean and maximal visual analogue pain scores (VAS 0-10) were recorded from post-anesthesia care unit(PACU) discharge to the end of postoperative day (POD) three. Results: 57 patients were included in the study.Opioid usage was 4.5 times greater in the 19 hours following removal of the epidural catheter when compared to the entire period (mean 65 hours) the epidural was in place (Group Epi 0.154 OME/kg vs Group No Epi 0.690 OME/kg, p<0.001). 51% (29/57) of patients did not require opioids (intravenous or oral) while the epidural was in place, all patients required opioids after epidural removal.Mean opioid usage while the epidural was in place was 9.3 OME, equivalent to approximately 6 mg of oxycodone.Mean and maximum pain scores increased significantly after removal of the epidural on POD 3 (mean pain score: Epi 3.4 (1.8) vs No Epi 4.1 (1.7); p<0.001) (max pain score: Epi 4.9 (2.5) vs No Epi 6.3 (2.1); p<0.001). Conclusions: This is the first study we are aware of to report pain scores and cumulative opioid requirements for PSF patients receiving CEA with a single epidural catheter before and after epidural removal.Opioid usage increased over four times in the 19 hours after epidural removal compared to the total opioid requirements while the epidural was infusing.Mean and maximum pain scores increased significantly after removal of the epidural on POD 3. This study firmly establishes that CEA with a single epidural catheter can provide profound analgesia for patients having PSF for AIS.

Comparing Spinal Chloroprocaine to Hyperbaric and Isobaric Bupivacaine for Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasties: A Retrospective Study.

Spinal anesthesia is commonly used for total knee and hip arthroplasties (TKA/THA). The rising popularity of ambulatory TKA and THAs require anesthetic techniques that provide rapid recovery of motor and sensory function while minimizing side effects like postoperative urinary retention. This single-center retrospective observational study compares the recovery profile of patients undergoing TKA and THA under chloroprocaine spinals compared to hyperbaric and isobaric bupivacaine spinals. One hundred and twelve patients undergoing primary TKA and THA under spinal anesthesia at University of Florida Health were identified between September 1, 2019 and February 21, 2020. Their electronic medical records were reviewed. Patients were categorized based on the local anesthetic used in the spinal. Various demographic, intraoperative, and postoperative data were compiled and compared, including duration of surgery, time to physical therapy, time to post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge, and time to spontaneous micturition. Timeto spontaneous micturition and PACU discharge were significantly lower in the chloroprocaine spinal group compared to the hyperbaric bupivacaine group by 193 minutes and 42 minutes, respectively. Fewer patients receiving chloroprocaine spinals had their first physical therapy session limited by residual motor weakness compared to those in both bupivacaine groups. Additionally, mean duration of surgery was shorter in the chloroprocaine group compared to both bupivacaine groups (89 minutes compared to 111 minutes). Time to physical therapy completion was not different. All groups had <10% conversion to general anesthesia. Chloroprocaine spinals can be feasible options for TKAs and THAs with improved postoperative recovery profiles compared to bupivacaine spinals.

The safety and efficacy of remimazolam tosylate for induction and maintenance of general anesthesia in pediatric patients undergoing elective surgery: Study protocol for a multicenter, randomized, single-blind, positive-controlled clinical trial.

Introduction: Remimazolam is an ultra-short-acting benzodiazepine sedative agent commonly used in general anesthesia, procedural sedation, and intensive care unit (ICU) sedation. This study aimed to explore the efficacy and safety of remimazolam versus propofol for the induction and maintenance of general anesthesia in preschool-age children undergoing elective surgery. Methods and analysis: In this multicenter, randomized, single-blind, positive-controlled non-inferior clinical trial, one hundred ninety-two children aged 3-6years will be randomly allocated as a 3:1 ratio into two groups: Group R with an intravenous dose of remimazolam 0.3mg/kg for the induction of anesthesia followed by a constant infusion rate of remimazolam 1-3mg/kg/h to maintain anesthesia, and Group P with an intravenous dose of propofol 2.5mg/kg for the induction of anesthesia followed by a constant infusion rate of propofol 4-12mg/kg/h to maintain anesthesia. The primary outcome will be the rate of the successful induction and maintenance of anesthesia. The secondary outcomes will include the time to LoC, the Bispectral Index (BIS) value, awakening time, extubation time, post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) discharge time, usage of additional sedative drugs during the induction period, usage of remedial drugs in PACU, emergence delirium, pain in PACU, behavior scores at day 3 after surgery, parental and anesthesiologists' satisfaction, and adverse events. Ethics and dissemination: This study has been approved by the ethics review boards at all participating hospitals. The Ethics Committee of the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (Reference No. LCKY 2020-380, November 13, 2020) is the central ethics committee.

The effectiveness and safety of a novel ultrasound-guided clavipectoral plane block for midshaft clavicle surgeries – a case series

Background: Clavipectoral plane block (CPB), a novel block first described in the 2017 European Society of Regional Anaesthesia Congress. Case: This study was a retrospective, descriptive, observational case series of seven patients with midshaft clavicle fractures. Two were given CPB; one under sedation and one under general anesthesia. Both had pain after Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) discharge up to 24 hours after surgery, but none required opioid medications post-operative. Among the five patients who had CPB with Superficial Cervical Plexus (SCP) block, four were under sedation and one under general anesthesia. All five patients had pain after PACU discharge up to 24 hours after surgery, and one patient previously under sedation had required opioid medication after PACU discharge. Conclusion: CPB with or without SCP block provided effective and safe anesthesia and analgesia to patients who underwent clavicle surgery under general anesthesia or intravenous sedation.