Editor's Note Amid a nationwide shortage of anesthesiologists straining many healthcare systems, new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation offers a state-by-state comparison of the number of anesthesiologists per physician. As of January 2024, the data reveal that Indiana leads states with the most anesthesiologists per physician at 13.12% (1,211…

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Editor's Note Due to its impact on a variety of organ systems, COVID-19 could elevate perioperative risks even among patients with mild symptoms, according to a study published in the February 2024 issue of Anesthesiology. Focused on patients presenting for elective inpatient surgery between April 2020 and April 2021, the…

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Editor's Note:  Due to sex hormones, “the female brain is more resistant to the hypnotic effects of volatile anesthetics,” concludes a study published January 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. General anesthetics work in part by modulating the activity of hypothalamic circuits, which regulate sleep and…

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Editor's Note: Soundproof headphones may improve physiological indices and decrease length of stay in the PACU for orthopedic surgery patients under spinal anesthesia, according to a study published January 4 in the Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing. Aiming to investigate the effect of wearing soundproof headphones during orthopedic surgery under spinal…

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Editor's Note: HSK3486 injectable emulsion (ciprofol) is noninferior to propofol in successful induction of general anesthesia, according toa study published December 13 in Anesthesiology. The study also confirmed prior data indicating HSK3486 causes substantially less injection-site pain. The multicenter, randomized (2:1), double-blind, propofol-controlled, phase-4 study evaluated 255 adults undergoing elective surgery…

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Editor's Note Researchers conducted the largest randomized study to date on use of the sedative midazolam in older patients, a drug sometimes used to calm patients prior to surgery. The results were published in JAMA Surgery on December 20. Highlights include: The study involved nine German hospitals and included more…

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Staff recruitment and retention is the top priority of OR leaders going into 2024, according to a November/December survey conducted by LeanTaaS in collaboration with OR Manager. Out of 84 respondents (some skipped), while 76% chose staff recruitment and retention, both improving operational efficiency (65%) and sustaining volume (36%) also…

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Editor’s Note Lending greater weight to patient opinions could help clinicians diagnose certain conditions, according to a study published in Rheumatology on December 18.  The study focused specifically on neuropsychiatric lupus, an autoimmune disease that is difficult to diagnose and includes symptoms such as headache, fatigue, and hallucinations that can…

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Editor’s Note A new automated delivery system for anesthesia that has been effectively tested in monkeys could eventually be used by doctors to identify and deliver the right dose of drugs in people. The findings appeared October 31 in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United…

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Editor's Note A new study finds that while opioid prescriptions for postoperative pain relief have continued to decline, that downward trend has slowed since 2020, indicating the need for continued work to right-size opioid prescriptions for surgery patients. The findings were published by JAMA Network on December 7. Researchers looking…

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