Background:A high incidence of errors occur while filling up death certificates in hospitals. The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of an educational intervention on errors in death certification in an intensive care unit (ICU). Patients admitted to ICUs by virtue of being critically ill have a higher mortality than other hospitalized patients. This study was designed to see if any improvement could be brought about in filling death certificates.Materials and Methods:Educating sessions, interactive workshops, and monthly audits for the department resident doctors were conducted. One hundred and fifty death certificates were audited for major and minor errors (75 before and 75 after the educational intervention) over a period of 18 months. Fisher's exact test was applied to statistically analyze the data.Results:There was a significant decrease in major errors like mechanism without underlying cause of death (60.0 vs. 14.6%, P < 0.001), competing causes (88.0 vs. 13.3%, P < 0.001), and improper sequencing (89.3 vs. 36.0%, P < 0.001). There was also a significant decrease in minor errors such as use of abbreviations (89.3 vs. 29.3%, P < 0.001) and no time intervals (100.0 vs. 22.6%, P < 0.001).Conclusion:Authors conclude that death certification errors can be significantly reduced by educational interventional programs.
Head Injury is one of the commonest causes of death. Most are the result of road traffic accidents. Primary Brain injury is the damage sustained as a direct result of the impact on the skull and intracranial contents. Secondary brain injury refers to the changes that evolve over a period of time (from hours to days) after the primary brain injury. It includes an entire cascade of cellular, chemical, tissue, or blood vessel changes in the brain that contribute to further destruction of brain tissue1. The purpose of this article is to outline the importance in early diagnosis and aggressive treatment of secondary brain injury so that further damage to brain can be prevented.
Background: Baska Mask® (BM) a newer Supraglottic Airway Device (SAD) considered to cause low incidence of Postoperative Pharyngolaryngeal Complications (POPC). This study was designed to assess efficacy, safety and early and late POPC between BM and commonly use ProSeal LMA (PMLA).Methods: Patients between 18 to 60 years of age undergoing elective short gynecological procedures were randomized into two groups, to receive ventilation with either BM (group 1, n=50) or an PMLA (group 2, n=50).Results: There was no significant difference in the ease of insertion for both the devices (p<0.24). There was no significant difference in the number of attempts for both the devices (p<0.69). When compared to PLMA, the time (in seconds) required for insertion of BM was significantly less in duration (20.9 vs. 16) (p<0.0001). Between the two groups significant hemodynamic changes noticed after removal of SGA. The blood staining of device was similar in both groups. Failure to place device, postoperative complication like laryngospasm and bronchospasm did not occur in both BM and PLMA groups.Conclusions: In conclusion, findings of this study support that BM takes significantly shorter placement time and provides a better seal as compared to PLMA but without any reduction in laryngopharyngeal complications.
The potential for cervical spine injury makes airway management more complex in the trauma patient. Patients with injury above the clavicles are at increased risk, and this is increased 4-fold if there is a clinically significant head injury (GCS < 9). Cervical vertebrae, being highly mobile for flexion, extension and rotation in vertebral column, are the most vulnerable ones for fracture, subluxation and dislocation. Atlanto-axial dislocation may even be fatal. In patients suspected for cervical spine instability, manipulation of airway either in emergency or electively continues to figure prominently challenging in anaesthesia practice. The best outcome depends upon the patients' predicament and the practitioner's experience and expertise with technique and the skills with which it is performed
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