Anesthesia Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS®) is a comprehensive, multifaceted, and multidisciplinary approach to the care of the surgical patient. ERAS bundles evidence-based elements to facilitate a faster recovery with fewer complications.1 Spanning the continuum of perioperative care, ERAS elements include: • patient engagement and education • preoperative optimization of nutrition…
Editor's Note In this study, changing the responsibility for ICU patient transports to the OR from the anesthesia to the ICU services did not change turnover times, but it resulted in more on-time starts and high compliance with preoperative checklist documentation. The crude proportion of on-time starts increased from 32.6%…
Editor's Note In this study, postoperative delirium in patients averaging 80 years old was linked to long-term detrimental outcomes after major orthopedic surgical procedures. Of 130 patients analyzed, 34 developed postoperative in-hospital delirium. Patients with postoperative delirium had a greater decline in activities of daily living at 2 to 3…
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on August 2 identified the recall by Centurion Medical Products of its Airway Kit containing Teleflex/Sheridan Endotracheal Tubes as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the potential for the tube connector to dislodge from the endotracheal tube,…
Editor's Note Music is a viable alternative to IV midazolam in reducing anxiety before a preoperative peripheral nerve block, this study finds. A total of 157 adult patients were randomly assigned to one of two options 3 minutes before peripheral nerve block−either an injection of 1-2 mg of midazolam or…
Editor's Note Oxygenation was impaired by anesthesia more often in patients with greater age or body mass index, this study finds. This retrospective analysis of data from two hospitals found key contributors to impaired oxygenation were low ventilation/perfusion ratios because of airway narrowing and closure in the elderly and atelectasis-induced…
Editor's Note In this study, postoperative delirium significantly increased the risk of postoperative cognitive dysfunction in older adults at 1 month after surgery, but there was no association at 2 and 6 months. Of 560 patients analyzed, 24% developed delirium during hospitalization. At 1 month after surgery, 47% had not…
Editor's Note Regional anesthesia was not associated with decreased readmission rates and costs after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in this study. In this analysis of 138,362 privately insured TKA patients 18-64 years of age, the adjusted 90-day readmission rate was 1.8% for those who did not receive regional anesthesia compared…
Editor's Note Educating anesthesia providers on the World Health Organization’s five indications for hand hygiene, increasing access to hand hygiene products in the OR, and monitoring hand hygiene among anesthesia providers can improve hand hygiene compliance, this study finds. Hand hygiene was observed in three phases: Preimplementation, postimplementation, and 60…
Editor's Note In this study, having elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery under inhaled (ie, desflurane, isoflurane, or sevoflurane) anesthesia did not result in significantly fewer deaths than total intravenous (IV) anesthesia, though inhaled agents have cardioprotective effects. A total of 5,400 patients at 36 centers in 13 countries…
