Hand Hygiene among Anesthesiologists and Microorganisms Contamination in Anesthesia Environments:A Single-Center Observational Study

Objective To investigate the baseline levels of microorganisms’growth on the hands of anesthesiologists and in the anesthesia environment at a cancer hospital.Methods This study performed in nine operating rooms and among 25 anesthesiologists at a cancer hospital.Sampling of the hands of anesthesiologists and the anesthesia environment was performed at a ready-to-use operating room before patient contact began and after decontamination.Results Microorganisms’growth results showed that 20%(5/25)of anesthesiologists’hands carried microorganisms(>10 CFU/cm^(2))before patient contact began.Female anesthesiologists performed hand hygiene better than did their male counterparts,with fewer CFUs(P=0.0069)and fewer species(P=0.0202).Our study also found that 55.6%(5/9)of ready-to-use operating rooms carried microorganisms(>5 CFU/cm^(2)).Microorganisms regrowth began quickly(1 hour)after disinfection,and increased gradually over time,reaching the threshold at 4 hours after disinfection.Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the hands of 20%(5/25)of anesthesiologists and 33.3%(3/9)of operating rooms.Conclusion Our study indicates that male anesthesiologists need to pay more attention to the standard operating procedures and effect evaluation of hand hygiene,daily cleaning rate of the operating room may be insufficient,and we would suggest that there should be a repeat cleaning every four hours.

Healthcare delivery cost and anesthesiologists: Time to have a greater role and responsibility

With the advancement of technology and health sciences,health care delivery costs are steadily increasing.This affects both households and governments.Unfortunately,the present truth is that health has become an essential but unaffordable commodity.This is very concerning.Quality,up-to-date,costeffective health care delivery is one of the prime objectives,and focuses on administration and health care authority.As the per capita spent on health from public/government funds is very poor in developing countries,the responsibility of cost-effective health care delivery falls primarily on the shoulder of the treating physicians.Anesthesiologists are becoming an indispensable part of health care delivery,having a diverse role in the emergency,critical care,pain,and perioperative care of patients.As the population ages,the need for surgical care is also increasing.Therefore,the anesthesiologist can also play a more significant role in delivering cost-effective health care,and minimize the cost without affecting the quality.This brief narrative review analyzes the current practice of anesthesiologists in two prime areas in the context of cost-savings:Preoperative investigation and low/minimal flow anesthesia.

Utilizing Anesthesiologists, Emergency and Critical Care Physicians with Telemedicine Monitoring to Develop Intubation and Ventilation Services in an Intensive Care Unit in the Austere Medical Environment: A Case Series. Expansion of the EP/CC GAS Project

Background: Significant resource constraints and critical care training gaps are responsible for the limited development of intensive care units (ICUs) in resource limited settings. We describe the implementation of an ICU in Haiti and report the successes and difficulties encountered throughout the process. We present a consecutive case series investigating an anesthesiologist, emergency, and critical care physician implemented endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation protocol in an austere environment with the assistance of telemedicine. Methods: A consecutive case series of fifteen patients admitted to an ICU at St. Luc Hospital located in Portau-Prince, Haiti, between the months of February 2012 to April 2014 is reported. Causes of respiratory failure and the clinical course are presented. Patients were followed to either death or discharge. Results: Fifteen patients (eight women and seven men) were included in the study with an average age of 37.7 years. The mean duration of ventilation was three days. Of the fifteen patients intubated, five patients (33.3%) survived and were discharged from the ICU. Of the five surviving patients, two were intubated for status epilepticus, one for status asthmaticus and one for hyperosmolar coma associated with intracerebral hemorrhage. Of the patients dying on the ventilator, four patients died from pneumonia, two from renal failure, and one from tetanus. The remaining three died from strokes and cardiac arrests. Conclusions: Mortality of mechanically ventilated patients in a resource-limited country is significant. Focused training in core critical care skills aimed at increasing the endotracheal intubation and ventilatory management capacity of local medical staff should be a priority in order to continue to develop ICUs in these austere environments. Collaborative educational and training efforts directed by anesthesiologists, emergency, and critical care physicians, and aided by telemedicine can facilitate realizing this goal.

A Survey of Surgical Patient’s Perception about Anesthesiologist in a Large Scale Comprehensive Hospital in China

Objectives This study aim to evaluate patient’s perception about anesthesiologists’ job roles and investigate their expectations for anesthesia care.Methods We designed a self-administered questionnaire for this cross-sectional survey study and delivered questionnaire forms to adult in-patients who were scheduled for elective surgery before pre-operative anesthetic visit the day before surgery.We collected information of respondents’ demographic data,education background,health literacy and previous experience of anesthesia,perception of anesthesiologist’s job,the expectation on anesthesia care.Descriptive analyses,χ^2 test and multiple linear regression analysis were used for data analysis.Results Of 550 participants,521(94.7%)completed the questionnaire.In these respondents,335 (64.3%) considered anesthesiology as an independent medical discipline,225 (43.2%) believed that anesthesiology department was an independent clinical department,and 243 (46.6%) recognized anesthesiologists as qualified doctors.Only 21.5% of them knew that anesthesiologists also work in the intensive care unit and 26.9% of them knew that anesthesiologists also work in pain clinic as well.Younger patients (β=-0.044,P<0.001),those with higher education (β=1.200,P<0.001),or with better health literacy (β=0.781,P=0.005) had significant more knowledge about the job roles of anesthesiologists.Most patients demanded pre-anesthetic visit (80.5%),expected availability of preoperative anesthetic clinic (74.1%),wished to receive more information about anesthesia (91.3%) and anesthesiologist (77.4%).Conclusions Patients’ perception about anesthesiologists might be limited.Efforts should be made on education about anesthesia,especially for elderly patients and those under-educated patients.Preoperative anesthetic clinic is expected by most in-patients.

Joint arthroplasty Perioperative Surgical Home:Impact of patient characteristics on postoperative outcomes

AIM:To determine the impact of different characteristics on postoperative outcomes for patients in a joint arthroplasty Perioperative Surgical Home(PSH) program.METHODS:A retrospective review was performed for patients enrolled in a joint arthroplasty PSH program who had undergone primary total hip arthroplasty(THA) and total knee arthroplasty(TKA).Patients were preoperatively stratified based on specific procedure performed,age,gender,body mass index(BMI),American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Classification System(ASA) score,and Charleston Comorbidity Index(CCI) score.The primary outcome criterion was hospital length of stay(LOS).Secondary criteria including operative room(OR) duration,trans-fusion rate,Post-Anesthesia Care Unit(PACU) stay,readmission rate,post-operative complications,and discharge disposition.For each outcome,the predictor variables were entered into a generalized linear model with appropriate response and assessed for predictive relationship to the dependent variable.Significance level was set to 0.05.RESULTS:A total of 337 patients,200 in the TKA cohort and 137 in the THA cohort,were eligible for the study.Nearly two-third of patients were female.Patient age averaged 64 years and preoperative BMI averaged 29 kg/m2.The majority of patients were ASA score Ⅲ and CCI score 0.After analysis,ASA score was the only variable predictive for LOS(P = 0.0011) and each increase in ASA score above 2 increased LOS by approximately 0.5 d.ASA score was also the only variable predictive for readmission rate(P = 0.0332).BMI was the only variable predictive for PACU duration(P = 0.0136).Specific procedure performed,age,gender,and CCI score were not predictive for any of the outcome criteria.OR duration,transfusion rate,postoperative complications or discharge disposition were not significantly associated with any of the predictor variables.CONCLUSION:The joint arthroplasty PSH model reduces postoperative outcome variability for patients with different preoperative characteristics and medical comorbidities.

Two surgical pathways for isolated hip fractures:A comparative study

BACKGROUND Hip fractures(HF)are common among the aging population,and surgery within 48 h is recommended.Patients can be hospitalized for surgery through different pathways,either trauma or medicine admitting services.AIM To compare management and outcomes among patients admitted through the trauma pathway(TP)vs medical pathway(MP).METHODS This Institutional Review Board-approved retrospective study included 2094 patients with proximal femur fractures(AO/Orthopedic Trauma Association Type 31)who underwent surgery at a level 1 trauma center between 2016-2021.There were 69 patients admitted through the TP and 2025 admitted through the MP.To ensure comparability between groups,66 of the 2025 MP patients were propensity matched to 66 TP patients by age,sex,HF type,HF surgery,and American Society of Anesthesiology score.The statistical analyses included multivariable analysis,group characteristics,and bivariate correlation comparisons with theχ^(2)test and t-test.RESULTS After propensity matching,the mean age in both groups was 75-years-old,62%of both groups were females,the main HF type was intertrochanteric(TP 52%vs MP 62%),open reduction internal fixation was the most common surgery(TP 68%vs MP 71%),and the mean American Society of Anesthesiology score was 2.8 for TP and 2.7 for MP.The majority of patients in TP and MP(71%vs 74%)were geriatric(≥65-years-old).Falls were the main mechanism of injury in both groups(77%vs 97%,P=0.001).There were no significant differences in pre-surgery anticoagulation use(49%vs 41%),admission day of the week,or insurance status.The incidence of comorbidities was equal(94%for both)with cardiac comorbidities being dominant in both groups(71%vs 73%).The number of preoperative consultations was similar for TP and MP,with the most common consultation being cardiology in both(44%and 36%).HF displacement occurred more among TP patients(76%vs 39%,P=0.000).Time to surgery was not statistically different(23 h in both),but length of surgery was significantly longer for TP(59 min vs 41 min,P=0.000).Intensive care unit and hospital length of stay were not statistically different(5 d vs 8 d and 6 d for both).There were no statistical differences in discharge disposition and mortality(3%vs 0%).CONCLUSION There were no differences in outcomes of surgeries between admission through TP vs MP.The focus should be on the patient’s health condition and on prompt surgical intervention.

Predictive Factors for a Successful Day Case Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Surgery: A Review

Introduction: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is one among the foremost common diseases affecting the aging man with, almost 80% of the lads greater than 70 affected. BPH is caused by unregulated proliferation within the prostate, which may cause physical obstruction of the prostatic urethra and result in anatomic bladder outlet obstruction (BOO). Transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) has been the historical gold standard up till now to which all endoscopic procedures for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) are compared with a mean hospital stay of three days. This surgery although efficacious has been related with increased morbidity and increased day case failure rates as compared to newer techniques. These shortcomings have prompted the utilization of newer methods like Transurethral enucleation and resection of the prostate (TUERP), Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) and Thulium laser enucleation of the prostate (ThuLEP). This review will discuss the enucleation techniques, advantages and therefore the predictive factors for a successful day case prostate surgery. Materials and Methods: During this review, we discuss the newer techniques utilized in day case BPH surgery as well as the predictive factors for a successful BPH surgery, both enucleation, benefits and morcellation are covered also. Results: TUERP, ThuLEP and HoLEP have literature supporting the advantages of these techniques, which demonstrates its ability in day case BPH surgeries in specially selected cases with favorable factors and a 61% overall success rate. Conclusion: TUERP, ThuLEP and HoLEP Have proven to show favorable outcomes in day case BPH surgery with urologist’s experience, prostate size, duration of operation, age, use of anticoagulants, morning theatre list and ASA score being the key factors for a successful day case surgery.

Intraoperative glycemic control procedures and the use of an artificial pancreas

Strict intraoperative glycemic control can significantly decrease the incidence of postoperative infection; however, anesthesiologists must carefully control blood glucose levels as well as properly manage the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. However, standard blood glucose measurement systems and insulin dosing algorithms, which are necessary for achieving strict glycemic control, have not yet been developed. An artificial pancreas (STG-22TM; Nikkiso Co., Tokyo, Japan) is considered a highly accurate blood glucose monitoring system capable of closed-loop control of blood glucose. The device has, however, many problems to be addressed since it is a large and expensive system with little versatility, and it requires a large amount of blood to be collected. Therefore, the development of less invasive and inexpensive systems with future technological progress is greatly anticipated.

Sudden Deaths Among Chinese Physicians

INTRODUCTION Sudden deaths are always an important topic, which catches physicians and health professionals＇ attention. Physicians and clinical scientists have reported their findings of unexpected deaths concerning about infants, children, young athletes, soldiers, adults with chronic diseases, and elderly people in thousands, if not millions of publications. However there are no existing clinical reports about sudden deaths among physicians and medical staff. Recently,