Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Manager's Guide to Ambulatory Anesthesia - July 2014

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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2 9 J U LY 2 0 1 4 | S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E occurring or resolving the risks before they arise. Here's how the people at the head of the table anticipate, avoid and address air- way complications. Check the record Can difficult airway situations be anticipated? In many cases, they can. Perhaps the primary source of such insights is the patients' own charts. Good, thorough documentation often notes if and when the patient has undergone a previous procedure in your facility, and possibly even procedures performed at other local facilities. If difficulties arose during these cases, it will list the details. Review the documentation for all accounts of earlier anesthesia interactions, especially for any related complications. It might be recorded, for instance, that the patient underwent anesthesia the preceding year and presented a difficult airway, for which 4 attempts and ultimately a video laryngoscope were required before intubation was successful. Reading this, you can take note of which provider attended the case and, considering their level of experience, prepare yourself accordingly. If documenting difficult airways in a patient's chart is not common at your facility, it's definitely time to institute the practice for safety's sake. I've even seen the inclusion of warning pages in charts, explaining the circumstances of the difficulty. The patient can be given a copy of this page as well, to present to surgeons and anesthesia providers in advance of any future procedures. A I R W A Y M A N A G E M E N T P reparation goes a long way in han- dling potentially difficult airway sit- uations, whether it is preventing emergencies from AIRWAY ARSENAL Laryngeal mask airways, both traditional and intu- bating, should be part of an anes- thesia provider's toolkit. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN SS_1407_Layout 1 7/1/14 2:24 PM Page 29

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