Anaesthetic technician

Chronic jugular vein or central venous cannulation is routinely performed in human and animal patients for access to blood circulation. In mature swine, chronic catheter placement techniques have typically involved venous isolation via extensive cut-down, blunt dissection and manipulation of ventral neck tissues prior to catheter placement. More recently, guide-wire-assisted percutaneous techniques have become standard practice in human and veterinary medicine due to the minimization of soft tissue and vessel damages...

Trained assistance for the anaesthetist appears likely to improve safety in anaesthesia. However, there are few objective data to support this assumption, and the requirement for a trained assistant is not universally enforced. We applied a simulation-based model developed in previous work to test the hypothesis that the presence of a trained assistant reduces error in anaesthesia. Ten randomly selected anaesthetists, five trained anaesthetic technicians and five theatre nurses without training in anaesthesia participated in two simulated emergencies, with anaesthetists working alternately with a technician or a nurse...

The purpose of this article is to share our findings since introducing the recently-developed anaesthetic assistant competencies (NHS Education for Scotland 2006). The term 'anaesthetic assistant' will be used throughout this article to refer to those who support the anaesthetist during anaesthesia. It is in no way meant to be derogatory to any person practising currently in this speciality.

Anaesthetic technicians play a key role in the operating room, yet little is known about their levels of job satisfaction or workplace stress. A blinded, confidential single mail-out survey was posted to anaesthetic technicians in New Zealand. The survey consisted of demographic information, a job satisfaction survey, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Short Form 12. At total of 154 forms were returned (51% response rate). Respondents worked predominantly in public hospitals and many had duties outside the operating room...

Genetic damage induced by anaesthetic gases in occupationally exposed populations was investigated using the comet assay and micronucleus test. The study included two groups of subjects: 50 operating theatre medical workers (anaesthesiologists, technicians and nurses) and 50 control subjects corresponding in sex, age and smoking habit. The exposed group revealed an increase in genome damage in both tests. In the comet assay, exposure to anaesthetics was a highly significant predictor of the tail length for technicians, while sex proved to be significant predictor of tail moment for women in exposed group...

OBJECTIVES: Although the genotoxicity related to waste anaesthetic gases is controversial, a consistent number of observations have provided evidence for an increased level of DNA strand breaks. The goal of the research was to investigate this hypothesis and estimate the genoprotective role of antioxidant supplementation in technical anaesthesiology staff working in operating theatres. METHODS: Heparinized venous blood samples were collected from 17 exposed technical anaesthesiology staff (mean age 34...

BACKGROUND: Because of the importance of airway management in emergency care, alternative methods with shorter learning curves for inexperienced personnel have been looked for as a substitute for endotracheal intubation (ETI). METHODS: We compared the success of insertion, oxygenation and ventilation of the intubating laryngeal mask (ILMA), laryngeal tube (LT) and CobraPLA (COB) in anaesthetized patients when used by paramedical students. After informed consent, 96 patients were monitored and anaesthetized for general surgery without the use of a muscle relaxant...

Two Air Assault Surgical Groups (AASGs) from 16 Close Support Medical Regiment deployed to Kuwait on Operation Telic in February 2003. Each AASG was comprised of a four-table resuscitation facility, a two table FST and a twin-bedded ITU facility. An A+E Consultant and nurse, an experienced radiographer and laboratory technician with two further RGNs and CMTs provided resuscitation support. Each FST had an orthopaedic and a general surgeon, two anaesthetists and eight operating department practitioners. Further equipment consisted of a Polymobil 111 X-ray unit, a Sonosite 180 ultrasound scanner and an ISTAT gas, haematocrit and electrolyte analyser...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Deaths which occur during the administration of anaesthetics require medicolegal investigations. The objective of this study is to form a database for future comparisons related to anaesthetic-associated malpractice claims and also to investigate the system of expertise, pertaining to such procedures. The decisions of the Supreme Health Council, whose expert opinion is requested by legal authorities (judges, prosecutors) for health workers brought to trial in a criminal court, were examined retrospectively over the period 1995-1999...

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this exploratory study were to survey the prevalence of certain exposures and health problems among a group of veterinary nurses attending the International Veterinary Nurses' Conference in Brisbane, Australia, 2003 and to identify the main concerns among those veterinary nurses with regard to occupational health hazards they may face. METHODS AND MATERIALS: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed among all attendees of the International Veterinary Nurses' Conference 2003, Brisbane, Australia (N=147 respondents among 215 surveyed)...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Only regular training of anaesthetic personnel ensures safe and reliable application of cricoid pressure during rapid sequence induction of anaesthesia. Previously described training devices are either complicated, too expensive and usually unavailable, or they are very simple and do not correctly simulate the process of applying cricoid force. We designed and tested a cricoid pressure trainer with real-time display of applied force. The device is easy to assemble at relatively little cost with material widely available...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

INTRODUCTION: Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is prevalent in our population. We report an incident of healthcare workers (HCWs) suspected of being infected by a patient with undiagnosed active PTB in the operating theatre. CLINICAL PICTURE: A 60-year-old patient admitted for intestinal obstruction, underwent an emergency laparotomy. Preoperative chest X-ray (CXR) showed diffuse reticular-nodular shadowing and postoperative sputum was positive for acid-fast bacilli...

In the current anesthetic practice in the United Kingdom (UK), there are some unique characteristics that are not necessarily familiar to the Japanese anesthesiologists. The author has obtained first-hand experience in anesthesia in the UK as a qualified anesthetist through the fellowship program between the Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists. The major differences in the UK anesthetic practice from its Japanese counterpart include dissimilarity in the use of drugs, the existence of "anaesthetic rooms", the expertise of perfusionists and operating department practitioners, and excellent systematic support from hospital professionals such as statisticians and graphics experts...

We present a rare case of an autoerotic accident involving a fatal combination of asphyxia by suffocation and intoxication with self-administered intravenous ketamine. Of note in this case is the fact that the victim was an emergency medical technician. Ketamine causes complete analgesia with superficial unconciousness and amnesia called "dissociative anasthesia". Futhermore low anaesthetic doses of ketamine induce alterations in mood, cognition and body image and the substance is an emerging drug of abuse...

UNLABELLED: The effectiveness of a eutectic mixture lidocaine-prilocaine topical anaesthetic cream (EMLA) patch compared with a placebo patch in the reduction of pain associated with intramuscular immunization was evaluated. As part of the study, 161 children (aged 4-6-y) undergoing routine diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio (DPTP) immunization in five urban and five rural private office settings were randomly assigned to an EMLA patch (n = 83) or a placebo patch control group (n = 78)...

Occupational exposure to anaesthetic gases is associated with various adverse health effects. Genetic material is a sensitive target of numerous harmful agents. The aim of this study was to examine whether chromosomal damage could serve to indicate exposure to anaesthetics. Twenty-eight anaesthesiologists, 16 technicians, and 32 control subjects were examined for chromosome aberrations and micronucleus frequency. An increase in chromosome damage was found in both exposed groups. Micronucleus frequency increased significantly, showing higher rates in women...

A postal survey of anaesthetists practising in New Zealand assessed practices with regard to the preparation of pre-drawn syringes of emergency drugs in theatre, and attitudes towards the drawing up of drugs by non-medically qualified assistants. Opinion and practice varied widely; a quarter of respondents routinely draw up such drugs and a third either never or very infrequently do so. The drugs most commonly drawn up in this way were suxamethonium, atropine, syntocinon, ephedrine and metaraminol. Providing anaesthesia single-handed, anaesthesia involving paediatric, obstetric or vascular cases, the use of major regional techniques and laryngeal mask anaesthesia were reported as factors which prompted a number of respondents to draw up one or more of these drugs...

OBJECTIVE: To identify occupational causes of disease and injury in veterinarians and their staff. DESIGN: A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to all of the 160 registered veterinary practices in Western Australia. RESULTS: Injuries accounted for most workers' compensation claims over a 12-month period with 31% of respondents losing a total of 360 work days with a mean of 13.3 days whereas non-occupational diseases such as influenza accounted for 408 work days lost...