Carol Weihrer visited an eye specialist that told her she had corneal erosion syndrome. Once she received this diagnosis, she decided she would go through treatments in order to try to better her quality of life. In 1998, she had had 17 operations but had gained no relief to her diagnosis. She then decided she would undergo an operation to remove her eye on January 14, 1998. Her troubles began that day but also led to a new journey for her. (Beck, 2005) Anesthesia is used in patients that are going to have an operation to alleviate them of the pain they would otherwise experience if they were conscious. Carol describes it as a two part medication. One part numbs the body so that the part of the body that is being operated will not be in pain.
(Griffin, 2013) Anesthesia awareness occurs when there is an error with the anesthesia given to the patient before or even during their operation. Some of the errors that can occur include dosage error. This occurs when a product is labeled wrongly which means that an individual can receive the wrong dose of the drug. Another error is delayed anesthesia delivery, which means that the means of giving the anesthesia is faulty such a leaky IV, syringe swapping troubles and other complications not within the operations. Commonly anesthesia awareness happens when a provider fails to properly monitor their patient. (Anethesia Errors, 2016) Carol was not watched to see if she was conscious, because her body was numb, she screamed and fought against herself to move a finger or any part of her body in order to let the surgeons know that she had awaken. She then heard a surgeon say that he she was awake. She waited for someone within the room to give her some kind of comforting word or assurance but no one did. The anesthesiologist then have her more medication. The belief is that this would have helped her go back to being unconscious but that was not the case for Carol. (Beck,
When errors occur such as turning off the alarm to the pulse oximeter then the provider is not notified when the oxygen level of a patient drops, resulting in tracheal damage from intubation, asphyxia, brain damage, loss of bodily function, coma and even death. And according to a study in Anesthesia and Analgesia, “nearly one-half of patients who experience anesthesia awareness will hear conversations in the operating room, half will feel as if they cannot breathe, and 28 percent will feel pain of surgery”! All this resulting from errors that can be
Seltzer, Jo. "Ophthalmologists Express Skepticism About Vision Therapy." Stlbeacon.org. N.p., 30 Nov. 2010. Web. 1 Mar. 2014.
IV sedation is reserved for our most complicated procedures and patients with very high levels of fear and anxiety. IV sedation creates a sleep-like state that allows you to wake up from a procedure with no memory of the sights, smells, sounds, or sensations that occurred during the treatment. This form of sedation is administered through an intravenous line and only by a licensed
There are a few types of medical errors discussed in Patient Safety Principles & Practice. One of them is an error of execution. An error of execution is when a correct action does not proceed as intended. It is a failure of a planned action to be completed as first intended. It occurs unintentionally during an automatic performance of patient care. This error is almost always observable at the patient and caregiver interface.
It’s hard to leave a loved one in a hospital bed when night falls. Family members leave with a sense of responsibility, guilt, and sadness. They leave relying on the nurse to watch and care for their sick family member. Therefore, it is heart breaking to find out the next morning your loved one has suffered great brain damage due to nurses failing to check on alarm sounds. Now, the family is put on the spot to continue life support or disconnect their family member. One can only imagine what went wrong; up to the minute that you left the hospital, your loved one was doing fine. You are relying on the health care providers to take care of your loved one, just as you would, while you are gone. Staff made an error by ignoring the alarms sounds, warning them that the patient was deteriorating, and costing the patient’s family a great deal of pain. Jenifer Garcia’s life shattered when this exact event happened to her husband in July, 2010 (Kowalczyk, 2011). She left her husband Friday night, alive, and returned the next morning to find out he was brain dead. Advancements in technology are used to decrease and catch medical errors made by health care providers that can harm or kill patients, but alarm fatigue has proven that even technology cannot fully protect a patient from nursing errors, thus taking the lives of patients.
Vital improvement for patient safety has triggered an enormous amount of positive change in the healthcare system. There were “1.6 million adverse events each year that led to 180,000 deaths” (Liang & Mackey, 2011). In a review, avoidable errors led to $19.5 billion dollars in healthcare expenses (Liang & Mackey, 2011). The National Patient Safety Agency analyzed 425 deaths from acute care hospitals and found “15% of the deaths were related to unrecognized patient deterioration” (Higgins, Maries-Tillot, Quinton, & Richmond, 2008). This finding led to the Institute for Health Care Improvement’s promotion for the use of an early warning scoring system to assist with identifying deteriorating patients (Albert & Huesman, 2011).
Individuals need to understand the use of anesthesia always comes with risks. In most cases, however, it's safe when administered by someone with the proper training. Certain individuals, such as those with obstructive sleep apnea or ones who are obese, need to speak to their physician before being sedated, as their risk of complications is higher.
“Technological advancements in anesthesia practice: Role of decision support system.” Anesthesia: Essays and Researches. January 8, 2014. Web. October 23, 2015. There have been many advancements in technology in the anesthesia field. A recent major advancement has been the decision support system (DSS). The decision support system acts similar to a second human central nervous system, and receives as well as relays information to and from the patient and the anesthesia information management system (AIMS). The DSS helps to maintain the data coming into and out of the patient during a medical procedure. The DSS also provides help during a medical crisis, giving the physicians a solution if an intra-operation (during the operation) crisis happens. The DSS can also design various scenarios for pre, intra, and post operation scenarios for the anesthesiologist to prepare for based on that patient’s medical history, information, and
The Oyez Project. N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 18 Mar. 2010. http://www.eyes.org/cases/1970-1979/1971/1971_70_18>.
...ing education courses and renew certification. When they are considered competent enough to deliver anesthesia, they must also be able to deal effectively with the daily changes and challenges that a hospital environment can create. They must also be able to “stomach” many types of sense triggers. Although they are one of the top paid nursing practices, they have to endure stress throughout their whole career, starting with the educational aspects.
My father made a successful recovery and I became inspired. I realized that having the gift of sight is something people take for granted. Therefore, when I embarked on my undergraduate journey, I partook in several activities to help foster my thirst for knowledge about optometry. For instance, I became the treasurer of the pre-optometry club at the University of Florida. As an executive board member, I opened doors for others to find their passion for optometry through managing our budget and finances to sponsor trips and activities. Meanwhile, I also worked as a secretary and shadowed at the Eye Associates of Orlando, where I gained practical knowledge. I also volunteered for the KidSight Vision Screening Program where I entered data of visio...
Excessive anxiety and worry, occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, about a number of events or activities
Anesthesia is used in almost every single surgery. It is a numbing medicine that numbs the nerves and makes the body go unconscious. You can’t feel anything or move while under the sedative and are often delusional after being taken off of the anesthetic. Believe it or not, about roughly two hundred years ago doctors didn’t use anesthesia during surgery. It was rarely ever practiced. Patients could feel everything and were physically held down while being operated on. 2It wasn’t until 1846 that a dentist first used an anesthetic on a patient going into surgery and the practice spread and became popular (Anesthesia). To this day, advancements are still being made in anesthesiology. 7The more scientists learn about molecules and anesthetic side effects, the better ability to design agents that are more targeted, more effective and safer, with fewer side effects for the patients (Anesthesia). Technological advancements will make it easier to read vital life signs in a person and help better decide the specific dosages a person needs.
Webster CS, Merry AF, Larsson L, McGrath KA, Weller J. The frequency and nature of drug administration error during anaesthesia. Anaesth Intensive Care 2001; 29: 494-500.
...erson to uphold the responsibility of this position as well as great sacrifice to become an anesthesiologist. He or she is expected to do many great things, not only helping patients get in and out of the surgery safely but send them to the best recovery centers for each of his or her necessities.
Although students were not allowed in the recovery unit, I was able to talk to one of the recovery nurses. I learned that a nurse’s duty of care includes monitoring the patient’s vital signs and level of consciousness, and maintaining airway patency. Assessing pain and the effectiveness of pain management is also necessary. Once patients are transferred to the surgical ward, the goal is to assist in the recovery process, as well as providing referral details and education on care required when the patient returns home (Hamlin, 2010).