Dreaming in Reality
“She will sleep the sleep of death,” said Ghoneim (2001) in his book Awareness during Anesthesia (p. 55). Patient recall is a frightening and fascinating concept describing how a patient could remember events while under anesthesia during surgery. It is a rising concern in the medical field because of its traumatic effects on the patients. Patient awareness involves the patient under anesthesia experiencing pain, vaguely remembering music or remembering the physicians talking as if the patient were dreaming. This topic is very controversial in that there are not very many cases in which a patient experienced recall or brought it to the anesthetist’s attention. Throughout this essay, I am aiming to discuss anesthesia as well as patient recall and the ways in which we can solve this issue. Patient recall involves patients with preconceived notions as well as poorly trained professionals who make mistakes, to solve this issue both patients and anesthesia providers must work together.
` Anesthesia has been used throughout medical history; the purpose of anesthesia is to prevent pain during surgery or any other medical procedure. Claudia M. Caruana (2010) mentions that anesthesia works by blocking nerve signals from going to the brain to allow the body to respond to and try to stop the pain (p. 8). Anesthesia has many different uses for many different types of surgeries from using very powerful sedatives for intensive surgeries to using very light sedatives like nitrous oxide to relieve the pain. All of the drugs in the anesthesiologist’s arsenal have different uses for different occasions which can be a benefit and can also be a defect.
Anesthesia is a necessary evil that has to be used throughout surgeries and...
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...ous and unaware of what is going on but in some unusual circumstances the person can recall the events with certain stimuli such as hypnosis. Also explicit memory is what is most recognized because the patient is completely conscious or just enough that they can remember exactly what happened after the surgery was completed (p. 3).
There are cases of patients experiencing awareness that are horrible examples showing how patient recall is a serious issue we have to correct. In CNN Health, Landau (2010) interviews a woman named Carol Weiher who was awaken to hear music and talking while she was having surgery on her eye (para. 1). Landau also mentions that Weiher hears “Cut deeper, pull harder” (para. 1). According to the Mayo Clinic in the Article Awake during surgery: 'I'm in hell “about one or two people in 1000 may wake up during general anesthesia” (para. 4).
Prior to intubation for a surgical procedure, the anesthesiologist administered a single dose of the neuromuscular blocking agent, succinylcholine, to a 23-year-old female to provide muscular relaxation during surgery and to facilitate the insertion of the endotracheal tube. Following this, the inhalation anesthetic was administered and the surgical procedure completed.
As a post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) Registered Nurse (RN), I care for patients of all races, ages, gender and ethnic backgrounds. However, a majority of the people I care for are of advanced age. Therefore, one must be aware of changes in the body related to aging. The purpose of this discussion is to present a case that addresses the considerations and issues of the perioperative care of an elderly patient.
It is not uncommon for a patient to experience pain and anxiety before or after a major procedure or breathing treatment. Imagining the myriad of complications that might occur during an operation can send one into multiple panic attacks. Coping with the loss of mobility and independence joined by the pain that accompanies recovery are only a few examples of the complex and traumatic experiences awaiting pre/post-operation patients. Fortunately, a medication was synthesized by Armin Walser and Rodney I. Fryer in 1975 to aid patients by easing anxiety and promoting sleepiness before an operation. An added benefit was that the events experienced during the operation were also forgotten while the medication was still in effect.
Nitrous oxide is administered via a face mask and is used to take the edge off of your nerves. This form of sedation is great for uncomplicated procedures and for patients experiencing only mild levels of fear or anxiety. If you fall into this category, nitrous oxide sedation may be for you.
Now let’s break down what General Anesthesia actually is. General Anesthesia makes you both unconscious and unable to feel pain during medical procedures. A study done by a team from Harvard Medical School, Weill Cornell Medical college, and the Massachusetts Ins...
According to Career Cruising, “anesthesiologists are doctors who administer drugs or gases that prevent patients from feeling any pain or sensation during surgery.” They monitor the patient before, during, and after the operation. Career Cruising also noted that before surgery, anesthesiologists consult with patients and make decisions
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.
2) “It’s difficult to determine who provides anesthesia care in the studies and the number of cases that actually involved a physician anesthesiologist (p. 11)” the ASA is claiming that the data collected and used in this review, are difficult to determine who did what and when. In other words it is unclear as to who was performing and providing care in these studies and very well could be, the care provided by an anesthesiologist. They say also that the data provided and used by the study has limiting factors to determine whether an anesthesiologist was available as needed, for rescue or advice by a patient being treated by a nurse anesthetist if they were to experience complications under the
American Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Professional Aspects of Nurse Anesthesia Practice. Philadelphia: F. A. Davis Company, 1994. Print.
Stomberg, M., Sjöström, B., & Haljamäe, H. (2003). The Role of the Nurse Anesthetist in the Planning of Postoperative Pain Management. AANA Journal, 71(3), 197.
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.
INTRODUCTION Pain: According to the International Association for the study of pain, “It is an unpleasant and sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.” Pain is frequently the result of nocioception, an activity in the nervous system that result from the stimulation of nocioceptors. Sedation:
Explicit memory is a conscious, recollection of an event or an item of information. It is usually measured using recall or recognition methods. Recalling has the ability to retrieve and reproduce information. Recognizing has the ability to identify information you have previously learned, read, or heard about.
Thomas Green Morton developed the anesthesia on October 16, 1846, which made a life altering encounter in the therapeutic and subjective world. The consequences of anesthesia contain release of pain, losing memory of any excruciating surgery prearranged, condense anxiety and paralyze your muscles. This would help make the operation conceivably undertaken a tranquil and more soothing, fewer aching foundation of prescription. In the beginning, chloroform and ether were actually exercised as the initial anesthesia, which evolved into the drug acknowledged currently.
Everyday, people go through surgery and require a specialist that will monitor their surgery as well as give them what they need to be able to persevere the pain, which is exactly what anesthesiologists do. In order for the patients to be able to get into surgery and deal with the agonizing aches after the abscission, anesthesiologists have to give the sufferer the proper treatment before and after the surgery. Overall, anesthesiologists must be highly educated in both medicine and communication, they need to be able to give the patient the right amount of medicine as well as speak with the family of patients and other doctors to inform them all with what will be done during the surgery, and they need to be able to properly assist the surgeons during operations.