Postoperative Recovery Room Research Articles

The Diffusion of Hospital Technologies: Some Econometric Evidence

This paper examines the diffusion of five hospital technologies that have spread widely since 1950: the postoperative recovery room, the intensive care unit, the respiratory therapy department, diagnostic radioisotope facilities, and electroencephalograph. The regressions show that the logistic function describes the diffusion of hospital innovations as well as it does the diffusion of innovations in other industries, that the rates of diffusion for these technologies fall within the range established by work on other industries, and that the rates for technologies that were not yet widespread in the middle 1960s increased with the advent of Medicare and Medicaid.

A simplified scoring system for the post-operative recovery room.

A new and very simple scoring system for recording post-anaesthetic recovery is described. When numerical values are assigned to factors indicating recovery progress or lack of it is obvious. The records may have medico-legal value. It can be incorporated into the Recovery Room Record.

Variations in Blood Pressure in the Lateral Recumbent Position

Mary F. Foley (St, Xavier College School of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois: B.S., St. Xavier College) is a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University in University Park. This study was done while she was employed in the postoperative recovery room of the Cardio-Pulmonary laboratory at Ohio State University in Columbus.

Aspergillus infection after cardiac surgery.

Aspergillus infections in four patients after cardiac surgery led to intensive search of the hospital environment for fungi and to review of contamination control practice. Aspergillus was grown from pigeon excreta on the outside windowsills and from moss growing on the hospital roof. It was recovered occasionally from the operating room and more often from the postoperative recovery room. Defects in the ventilating system of these areas were identified and corrected in order to reduce air contamination. Patient contamination must be related to the turbulent blood-air interface produced by cardiac suckers during operation, but still the manner of control and even the portal of entry of infection remain obscure and are, therefore, a cause for concern in future operations.

Caudal ropivacaine and bupivacaine for postoperative analgesia in infants undergoing lower abdominal surgery.

Objective:To compare the postoperative analgesic efficacy of ropivacaine 0.175% and bupivacaine 0.175% injected caudally into infants for lower abdominal surgery.Methods:Eighty infants, aged 3-12 months, ASA I-II scheduled to undergo lower abdominal surgery were randomly allocated to one of the two groups: Group R received 1ml.kg-1 0.175% ropivacaine and Group B received 1ml.kg-1 0.175% bupivacaine via caudal route. Postoperative analgesia, sedation and motor block were evaluated with modified objective pain scale, three-point scale and modified Bromage scale respectively. Postoperative measurements including mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), pain (OPS), sedation and motor block score were recorded for four hours in the postoperative recovery room. Parents were contacted by telephone after 24 hours to question duration of analgesia and side effects.Results:No significant differences were found among the groups in demographic data, MAP, HR, OPS and sedation scores during four hours postoperatively. The duration of analgesia was 527.5±150.62 minutes in Group R, 692.77±139.01 minutes in Group B (p=0.004). Twelve (30%) patients in Group R, 16 (40%) patients in groupB needed rescue analgesics (p=0.348). Rescue analgesics were administered (1 time/2 times) (9/3) (22.5/7.5%) in Group R and 16/0 (40/0%) in Group B, where no statistically significant difference was determined between the groups (p=0.071). Motor blockade was observed in 7 (17.5%) patients in Group R, and 8 (20%) patients in Group B (p=0.774).Conclusion:This study indicated, that a concentration of 0.175% ropivacaine and 0.175% bupivacaine administered to the infants via caudal route both provided effective and similar postoperative pain relief in infants, who underwent lower abdominal surgery.

Areawide Hospital Planning

It is a pleasure to be asked to address this 15th Annual Congress of the Association of Operating Room Nurses. The last time I had this privilege at one of the earliest of your sessions, the topic was “The Organization of a Postoperative Recovery Room”at a time when the recovery room was new and was being used for both postoperative and intensive care. The changes since then have been almost beyond comprehension in many areas of our national life, incuding the health care system, with new goals, new technology and new approaches to financing. The accelerating pace of change includes a new concept of anticipating needs and planning for them on broad regional lines, which makes my topic, “Area-wide Hospital Planning,” especially pertinent. Prior to 1961 only eight areawide hospital planning councils came into existence. The number shot up to 40 in the next three year period. That number has doubled within the last four years. Such a growth of hospital planning councils has reflected a new dimension in the delivery of health services in our country. The “something new” involves a new set of relationships between all health service agencies in a given area; between health agencies and the community they serve and between both the providers of service, the people and their government. The new requirement for institutionalized bodies is that they plan for the health needs of a whole areaa defined region. The inducement for planning is contained in the financial support potentially available by gov-