SummaryWe developed a screening questionnaire to be used by nurses to decide which patients should see an anaesthetist for further evaluation before the day of surgery. Our objective was to measure the accuracy of responses to the questionnaire. Agreement between questionnaire responses and the anaesthetist's assessment was assessed. For questions with a prevalence of 5 to 95%, the Kappa coefficient was used; percentage agreement was used for all other questions. Criterion validity was excellent ⁄ good for all questions with a prevalence between 5 and 95%, except for the question 'Do you have kidney disease?' For questions with prevalence < 5%, all demonstrated adequate criterion validity except the questions 'Has anyone in your family had a problem following an anaesthetic?' and 'If you have been put to sleep for an operation were there any anaesthetic problems?' Therefore, it is reasonable for nurses to use this questionnaire to determine which patients an anaesthetist should see before the day of surgery.Keywords Anaesthesia; pre-operative, assessment, questionnaire. Recent advances in anaesthetic and surgical practice have facilitated the growth of 'fast track' surgery [1, 2]. Careful outpatient assessment is fundamental to the success of this type of surgery and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland now recommends assessment at a pre-operative assessment (POA) clinic [3].The provision of a pre-operative screening and assessment service at POA clinics supplies background information about patient's general medical status and fitness for anaesthesia. POA clinics improve patient care by allowing careful pre-operative evaluation and optimisation of coexisting disease [4], reduce costs [5, 6], improve efficiency [7], and lower surgical cancellation rates [8, 9].In POA clinics, nurses increasingly carry out preoperative screening [10]. Although they are not qualified to decide if a patient is fit for anaesthesia, they play a valuable role in identifying patients who are at risk and require further evaluation and optimisation before the day of surgery [11]. Nurses screen patients for risk factors for fitness for anaesthesia and surgery using questionnaires [12]. These can be self-administered by the patient [9], or used during structured interviews [13], or computer programs [14]. Although many locally developed questionnaires exist, few have been formally assessed.We have developed a multi-tiered screening questionnaire to be used by nurses to decide which patients should be seen at a POA clinic by an anaesthetist for further evaluation and optimisation. Using Delphi consensus methods, we have already evaluated content validity for each question [15] to ensure that the questions are relevant to concept being measured.Our objective was to perform item analysis of the screening questionnaire and measure criterion validity [16], that is, is it a true measure of what it is designed to measure?By testing individual questions beyond basic content validity, we were able to put them together in a...

Environmental contamination within intensive care units (ICU) is recognised as a source of patient infection, and improved cleaning and disinfection methods are continually being sought. Visible light of 405 nm has been shown to have bactericidal properties, and this communication reports on the use of a ceiling-mounted 405 nm light system for continuous environmental disinfection of contact surfaces and air in an occupied ICU isolation room. Levels of bacterial contamination on a range of contact surfaces around the room were assessed before, during and after use of the system. For each study, the lighting units were operated continuously during daylight hours. Results demonstrate that the spatial distribution of bacterial contamination was reduced almost uniformly across all sampled contact surfaces during use of the 405 nm light system. Pooled data showed that significant reductions in overall bacterial contamination around the room were achieved, with bacterial counts reduced by up to 67% (p=0.0001) over and above that achieved with standard cleaning and infection control procedures alone. Use of 405 nm light significantly reduced environmental contamination across almost all sampled contact surfaces within the ICU isolation room. This has particular benefit in ICU where equipment and other ‘hand-touch’ sites make routine cleaning difficult, thus helping maintain a cleaner environment, and contributing to reducing cross-infection from environmental sources.

O2 has haemodynamic effects in awake and anaesthetized patients. These effects were of overall similar magnitude for patients anaesthetized with propofol and sevoflurane.

FWR is common in UK Emergency Departments. It is more common when children are being resuscitated than adults. Further research is needed to demonstrate whether it is of benefit to the patient or relatives and its applicability to other areas such as intensive care.