Blog

April 22, 2024

Neuraxial Anesthesia in Patients with Scoliosis

Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine in the coronal, axial, and/or sagittal planes. The condition is most frequently ...
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March 25, 2024

Hyperbaric Spinal Anesthesia

Each year, more than 300 million surgical procedures are performed worldwide, with approximately 5% (15 million) conducted under spinal anesthesia ...
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Spine Surgery
February 25, 2024

Spinal Anesthesia for Awake Spine Surgery

Awake spine surgery, a ground-breaking approach in modern surgical practices, challenges traditional norms by allowing patients to remain conscious during ...
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January 25, 2024

Scope of CMS Quality Ratings

As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to improve transparency, accountability, and performance in healthcare services, the ...
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December 28, 2023

Strategies to Reduce Procedural Anxiety in Children

Procedural anxiety in children is a common and challenging phenomenon, often occurring during medical procedures such as vaccinations, blood draws, ...
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November 27, 2023

Hemodynamics: Why Is It Important in Surgery?

Hemodynamics, or the measure of blood flow throughout the body, plays a significant role in surgical outcomes. Hemodynamic problems can ...
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November 8, 2023

Hemodynamics: What Does It Mean?

There are two common meanings of hemodynamics. Sometimes, when they say “hemodynamics,” people are referring to the fundamental measures of ...
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September 26, 2023

Extubation in OR vs. During Recovery

Extubation, the process of removing a patient's endotracheal tube after surgery, is a critical step in the perioperative care of ...
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August 30, 2023

Tools for Assessing Postoperative Delirium

Postoperative delirium is a common complication following surgery, particularly among elderly patients [1]. Characterized by acute and fluctuating changes in ...
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July 18, 2023

Cognitive Risks After Different Types of Anesthesia

Different types of anesthesia used during surgical procedures may have detrimental effects on cognitive functioning. Studies indicate the effects of ...
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June 19, 2023

Infection Prevention After Orthopedic Surgery

Orthopedic surgery patients have the highest risk of developing a surgical site infection (SSI) after an operation (2). Luckily, the ...
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May 15, 2023

Timing of Regional Nerve Block Before Surgery

The use of regional nerve blocks in the management of perioperative pain has gained popularity in recent years. Also referred ...
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April 17, 2023

Physician Assistants as Primary Care Providers

Physician assistants or PAs are medical professionals that make up a critical part of the healthcare workforce, especially in primary ...
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March 27, 2023

Healthcare M&As and the DOJ

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions (or M&As) occur when two or more healthcare organizations join their operations, resulting in a larger ...
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February 20, 2023

Anesthesia for Prostate Surgery

Prostate surgery can be carried out to treat prostate cancer, an enlarged prostate or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), urinary continence, or ...
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January 3, 2023

Marburg Virus: What to Know

Recently identified as belonging to the filovirus genus, the Marburg virus (MARV) is another aggressive infectious agent with similar epidemiology ...
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November 21, 2022

Role of IV Fluids During Minor Surgery

Minor surgery is generally defined as a surgical procedure which does not require general anesthesia and can be performed electively ...
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October 17, 2022

IV Lidocaine for Surgical Pain

Intravenous lidocaine is widely used for its effect on postoperative pain and recovery. In addition, concern about opioid risks in ...
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September 19, 2022

Prone Position for Surgery

Surgery in the prone position, or lying face down, as opposed to supine where the patient is lying on their ...
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The Telehealth Modernization Act was passed in 2022.
August 15, 2022

Implications of the Telehealth Modernization Act

The Telehealth Modernization Act was passed in 2022, modifying requirements for the coverage of telehealth services under Medicare. It effectively ...
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The amount of virus shed by infected individuals depends on the virus in question.
July 18, 2022

Viral Shedding in Vaccinated Individuals

Viral shedding refers to the expulsion of live virus from an organism in which the virus has successfully replicated.1 Shedding ...
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June 20, 2022

Epinephrine as an Adjuvant to Anesthetics

While nerve blocks are widely used alongside anesthesia, its effect may last only up to a few hours, and increasing ...
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May 16, 2022

Medical License Regulations and Reciprocity

Medical licenses are a key regulatory measure which determines who can (and can’t) practice medicine. A medical license can only ...
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April 18, 2022

The Role of General Anesthetics in Post-Operative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD)

Post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is an expansive definition for the wide spectrum of cognitive deficits seen in patients after anesthesia ...
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March 22, 2022

Famotidine for COVID-19

Famotidine is a histamine-2 receptor antagonist [1]. While it has traditionally been used to quell gastric acid production, recent clinical ...
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February 22, 2022

Pregnancy and Anesthesia Considerations

Literature demonstrates that anywhere from 0.2 – 2.2% of pregnant women undergo non-obstetric surgeries and anesthesia per year [1, 2]. ...
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January 18, 2022

Retained Surgical Items: Surgical Tools Left Inside Patients

Every year in the United States, at least 1,500 to 2,000 retained surgical items (RSIs) are discovered in the bodies ...
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December 20, 2021

Paxlovid: A Potential Antiviral Covid Pill

Pfizer, the company that collaborated to create the first mRNA coronavirus vaccine to receive emergency use authorization, is now seeking ...
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November 8, 2021

Mobile Stroke Units

A mobile stroke unit (MSU) is a specialized ambulance that contains a CT scanner, mobile laboratory, and telemedicine connection for ...
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October 4, 2021

Interventions For High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a global crisis; 1.39 billion people are estimated to have hypertension around the world, ...
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September 6, 2021

Indications for Nasotracheal Intubation

Nasotracheal intubation (NTI) is a common form of airway management [1]. During NTI, an endotracheal tube enters the patient’s trachea, ...
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August 2, 2021

Health Incentives: Lessons for COVID-19 Vaccine Campaigns

While most countries still lack adequate access to COVID-19 vaccines, in the U.S., vaccine supply has begun to outstrip demand. ...
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July 5, 2021

Ophthalmic Surgery Advancements and Changes in Anesthesia Strategies

Ophthalmic surgery is one of the most common surgical fields requiring anesthesia in developed countries; in the United States alone, ...
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June 7, 2021

Estimated Disease Burden from Long Work Hours

In May of 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) presented the first joint estimate of ...
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May 3, 2021

Neural Entropy and Consciousness

To date, the neurobiological basis of consciousness remains a compelling mystery. However, many correlates of consciousness, including entropy, have been identified in monitored brain activity. Such markers have been ...
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April 5, 2021

Anesthesia Considerations for Patients Who Regularly Drink Alcohol

Whether a patient consumes healthy amounts of alcohol regularly or suffers from alcohol abuse, anesthesia providers must alter their strategy before, ...
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March 8, 2021

Anaphylaxis: An Overview

The World Health Organization defines anaphylaxis as a severe, life-threatening generalized or systemic hypersensitivity reaction, which is usually mediated by an ...
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February 8, 2021

Acute Kidney Injury Risk in Liver Transplant Surgery

Over the last decade, the number of liver transplantation surgeries conducted has increased vastly [1]. With this increase, postoperative rates ...
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January 11, 2021

The Relationship Between CRNAs and Anesthesiologists

The majority of anesthesia care in the United States is safely and effectively provided by teams with both anesthesiologists and Certified Registered Nurse ...
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December 14, 2020

Shifting from Inpatient to Outpatient Care

Outpatient health care environments have seen remarkable growth over the past decade. A major driving factor of this change has been the emergence of ...
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November 16, 2020

Dispersion of Inhalation Anesthetics into the Operation Room

In an operation where inhalation anesthetics are used, some amount of those anesthetics are dispersed into the operation room. When that ...
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An older patient and a family member discuss the advance directive
October 12, 2020

Understanding The Advance Directive in Healthcare

Some patients, particularly those with terminal conditions or the elderly, will have an advance healthcare directive on file. An advance ...
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Image of healthcare professional discussing prehabilitation with patient
September 14, 2020

Prehabilitation in Anesthesiology

Prehabilitation is a proactive approach to post-surgical rehabilitation that starts before the surgery even begins. The program is based on ...
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August 17, 2020

Blocking SARS-CoV-2 Cell Entry with Protease Inhibitors

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is caused by the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Without any adequate vaccine or therapeutics available ...
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July 23, 2020

Coronavirus contact tracing apps struggle to make an impact

In the toolkit of strategies to stop the spread of COVID-19, many countries are reaching for smartphone apps1. From Iceland ...
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June 18, 2020

AAAASF: The Gold Standard in Accreditation

The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. (AAAASF) was established in 1980 to standardize and improve the ...
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May 6, 2020

Observed Higher Incidence of Pulmonary Embolism in COVID-19 Patients

A pulmonary embolism (PE) occurs when a blood clot that forms in a blood vessel in one area of the ...
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April 17, 2020

Chronic Opioid Use and Sleep

Oftentimes, an anesthesia provider’s role involves helping patients with long-term pain management.1 In fact, some anesthesia professionals specialize in managing chronic pain or do research to ...
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March 27, 2020

Iontophoretic Drug Delivery Systems for Chronic Pain Management

Anesthesia providers are responsible for delivering anesthesia and analgesia in many contexts, ranging from perioperative to critical care.1 Some anesthesiology professionals focus their ...
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March 6, 2020

New Drug Delivery Systems in Anesthesia

The healthcare field has recently seen changes in drug delivery systems as a result of a movement to improve the ...
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