Latest news with #anesthesia
CBS News
6 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
What's the oldest monument in the Boston Public Garden? The story behind "The Good Samaritan."
The Boston Public Garden, the first botanical garden in the country, was established in 1837. It's home to several iconic monuments, like the George Washington Equestrian statue, the Make Way for Ducklings sculptures and the Japanese stone lantern. But, a lesser-known monument predates them all. When quizzed on which statue in the garden is the oldest, Boston resident Mike Sambeck said, "I would assume the ducklings." Amber, a tourist visiting from Seattle, could only muster a chuckle. "I have no idea." But Beth Sanders, a tour guide with the Friends of the Public Garden, knew right away. "It's the Ether Monument," she said correctly. The Good Samaritan, also known as the Ether Monument, is located just inside the Marlborough Street entrance. It's as much a tower of trivia as it is a 40-foot statue. Built in 1868, the Good Samaritan is the oldest monument in the garden. It celebrates the watershed moment in 1846 when anesthesia was first used in surgery. That happened just down the road at Massachussetts General Hospital. Atop the monument is a statue of two individuals, with one man administering ether to another. It was sculpted by John Quincy Adams Ward, no relation to the presidents. It's his only sculpture in Boston, although he does have one of George Washington in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Though it is obscure, the monument is incredibly deserving. Anesthesia forever changed medicine and like the garden itself was born in Boston. For more information on the Boston Public Garden, visit the Friends of the Boston Public Garden's website.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Premier Anesthesia Partners with Salina Regional Health Center to Power Next Phase of Surgical Excellence
Collaboration to Optimize Anesthesia Services Through Tailored Solutions ALPHARETTA, Ga., July 21, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Premier Anesthesia, a leading privately held single-specialty anesthesia practice management firm, today announced a strategic partnership with Salina Regional Health Center (SRHC), the principal hospital of a highly regarded health system and a designated Level III Trauma Center serving north-central Kansas. Through this collaboration, Premier Anesthesia will provide tailored anesthesia consulting and practice management services to support SRHC's transition to a hospital-employed anesthesia model. In this capacity, it will oversee daily operations of the hospital-based anesthesia team committed to maintaining clinical excellence, fostering workforce stability and helping ensure seamless continuity throughout the transition. Premier Anesthesia also will provide strategic guidance on surgical operations to help optimize operating room utilization and overall efficiency. "We are privileged to partner with Salina Regional Health Center at this pivotal moment," said Preston Smith, president, Premier Anesthesia. "This collaboration goes beyond operational change by establishing a resilient framework for sustained excellence in anesthesia services. In line with Salina Regional's goals, we are helping build a scalable, high-performing infrastructure that benefits existing patients and positions the health system for future advancement." Salina Regional Health Center is widely recognized for its compassionate patient care and use of advanced technology, while remaining dedicated to delivering superior care that promotes rapid recovery and long-term well-being. This partnership is timely as the health system aims to expand and enhance its surgical service lines while preserving high standards in anesthesia. "Our alliance with Premier Anesthesia will increase access and strengthen our ability to serve patients," added Dr. Rob Freelove, chief medical officer, Salina Regional Health Center. "With comprehensive oversight of scheduling and care delivery, we expect increased efficiency and a seamless patient experience, further supporting our commitment to timely, integrated care across all service lines." This partnership demonstrates a shared commitment to excellence in clinical quality, operations and patient outcomes. It also reflects an evolving model in which anesthesia practice management organizations partner with hospitals to facilitate provider employment transitions and ensure robust program administration. ABOUT SALINA REGIONAL HEALTH CENTER Salina Regional Health Center is a full-service acute care hospital dedicated to delivering outstanding health care quality and patient outcomes across north central Kansas and beyond. Affiliated with three Critical Access Hospitals located in Abilene, Concordia, and Lindsborg, Salina Regional forms the cornerstone of an integrated health system that includes more than 20 primary care and specialty clinics that provide outreach services in communities across the area. With a team of more than 2,550 skilled professionals – equipped with the latest medical technology – the system stands at the forefront of health care in the region providing a continuum of medical care and advanced, lifesaving services. For more information, please visit ABOUT PREMIER ANESTHESIA Premier Anesthesia is one of the nation's largest privately held anesthesia management companies. Solely focused on building and managing the best anesthesia teams in the industry, its leadership brings extensive experience and expertise in hospital-based physician staffing, recruiting and management, helping hospital and healthcare facilities across the country achieve superior clinical, business and patient outcomes. Premier Anesthesia is part of the Jackson Healthcare® family of companies. Learn more at View source version on Contacts For More Information, Contact: media@ Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Times
17-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
‘The Retrievals' is not meant to scare you
By Susan Burton Hi Retrievals listeners, Episode 2 drops today! If you missed the Episode 1 newsletter, about what led me to report on the problem of severe pain during C-sections and the people trying to solve it, you can find it here. Episode 2 takes up the question of 'why?' Why are patients feeling everything during C-sections? It's not an easy question to answer, and in this episode, we hear what happens when a doctor gets up onstage and asks a ballroom full of anesthesiologists to wrestle with it. Last week, when we announced the new season on Instagram, hundreds of readers responded in the comments, often with personal stories of painful C-sections. Others questioned whether it was even a good idea to put this type of content out there on Instagram. Personally what I find scary is that 100,000 U.S. patients a year are feeling significant pain during major abdominal surgery and that hardly anyone knows about it. Yes, it would be great if everyone could have a one-on-one consultation with an anesthesiologist before they even go into labor. It's not such a pie-in-the-sky idea: People are thinking about how to make this a reality. (Search this report for 'prenatal anesthesia consultations.') But right now that's not how our system works. So now that you know that this can happen during a C-section, what do you do with that information? Often the answer to this question is: Advocate for yourself! And, yes, but that should not be the only answer. The responsibility should not be on patients to fix this problem. Yesterday a listener sent me an email saying that when the doctors tested her spinal block before her C-section, she could tell the block wasn't working. Initially she was met with disbelief, and so, lying exposed on the operating table she had to, she wrote, 'project manage' the OR in order to get the care she needed. You should not have to project manage your own C-section. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Medscape
15-07-2025
- Business
- Medscape
Revolutionizing Anesthesia Drug Management and Integrity
Stocking and restocking anesthesia carts is tedious and meticulous — and it's highly regulated. Anesthesiologists have direct and extensive access to controlled drugs in a hospital setting, particularly potent opioids and sedatives, which makes these processes vulnerable to the potential of abuse. Within the anesthesia ecosystem, the doctor has a partner in the stocking and restocking process, and that's the hospital pharmacy staff. This team has so much reporting to do: logging which medications were used by which operating teams and on which patients — data that ultimately get reported to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Errors in any part of the dispensing, stocking, and securing process could result in waste, fines, medication errors, or worse. Hospitals have been on the search for help. Several companies have focused on what's called RAIN RFID. The technology uses passive ultrahigh frequency waves to essentially perform the function of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for short-range device communication. It's available to hospitals to help with everything from patient tracking to equipment security and compliance. For anesthesia departments, the company Intelliguard created what it calls the Mira Ecosystem. It's built on RAIN RFID and monitors each vial of medication through its entire journey, filling clinical, compliance, and supply chain functions. Tray Setups and Refills Are Quick, Easy, and Traceable According to Intelliguard, about 90% of its systems are currently deployed to serve anesthesia departments. When vials of medication arrive at the pharmacy, a technician applies the Mira tag to each vial, and immediately, the system begins tracking each individual one. 'Our system reads each of the 96-bit unique IDs and then associates those unique IDs with the medication. So now each of those IDs is associated with rocuronium, for example, and the company that made it, the serial number, and the expiration and the lot number,' said Paul Elizondo, Intelliguard's chief innovation officer. 'From then on, when our system sees that 96-bit unique ID, it associates it with the medication in a database. It displays that on the screen, and we know exactly what that medication is now.' Paul Elizondo The system tracks each vial of medication throughout its journey at the hospital, giving pharmacy managers and hospital administrators instant, real-time visibility into where each vial is and when. In terms of daily pharmacy tasks, making up medication trays for anesthesiologists is made nearly foolproof, reducing medication errors. 'The hospitals using our system will place these RFID-tagged medications into the tray, then they will place that tray into our enclosure,' said Elizondo. 'In 6 seconds, we read every single tag in that tray, and we let them know if that formula, if what's in the tray, matches the formulary to which they're building right at that time.' The system can also check to ensure there are no expired or recalled medications in the tray. The real-time savings come, though, when the anesthesiologist returns the tray at the end of the day. Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego is using this system. Performance improvement pharmacist Ann McKinstry explained some of the ways that she's seen return on investment gains. 'Pinpointing the medication location has allowed for a more rapid response to expiry, recalls, and patient care events,' McKinstry said. 'Inpatient pharmacy inventory is tightened by offering a streamlined data review to analyze usage and reducing waste by tightening supply on hand. In addition, RFID tags allow accurate controlled substance reconciliation by monitoring usage, waste, and replenishment down to the minute.' Real-Time Tracking of Medication Location Saves a Life Knowing exactly where your medications are on a real-time basis isn't just important: It can be a matter of life and limb. For example, if a patient with a deadly North American pit viper bite is rolled into your emergency department, as happened at a Bartow, Florida hospital at 1 AM on May 4 — you'd definitely want to know if you have antivenom on hand. Bartow was out. They reached out to Prodigy Health, distributor of specialty pharmaceuticals that supplies medicines to hospitals on a consignment basis. Prodigy runs a 24-hour switchboard and uses RAIN to gain visibility into what is being dispensed by each hospital. The antivenom was quickly located at a hospital in Lutz, Florida, one that had a RAIN RFID cabinet. The request was made, the antivenom was transferred, and the day was saved. Ty Dishman Before this technology, 'This process was manual and time-consuming. Now, with reliable data integrating into our system every 6 seconds, we're able to provide immediate, confident answers to customer inquiries about medication availability and delivery timelines,' said Ty Dishman, CEO of Prodigy Health. 'Instead of saying, 'I think it's there — let me check and call you back,' we can act quickly and efficiently, ensuring life-saving medications are mobilized without delay.' The Competitive Landscape RFID systems are nothing new in the healthcare environment. They're commonly used to track medical equipment and inventory, as well as in staff badging systems. Its use in medication management is fairly recent. Terso Solutions offers a similar suite to the Mira Ecosystem, with the exception of Intelliguard's direct-to-operating room tray system; Avery Dennison Medical and Healthcare provides a wide range of pharmaceutical labeling options, and some options include RFID.
Medscape
14-07-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Adverse Events in Airway Procedures in Kids: Key Risks
TOPLINE: Adverse events occurred in 2% of children who underwent procedures for airway management under general anesthesia, with higher rates in neonates and infants. Risk factors included younger age, the presence of anatomic difficulties, and undergoing anesthesia outside operating rooms. METHODOLOGY: Researchers conducted a prospective observational study at 10 tertiary care hospitals in Japan from June 2022 to January 2024, focusing on the incidence of adverse events during airway management in children under general anesthesia. A total of 16,695 children (mean age, 6.3 years; 41.4% girls; 1.8% neonates and 11.7% infants) received advanced airway management at least once under general anesthesia, with or without regional anesthesia, including tracheal intubation or the placement of a supraglottic airway device. Data on patient comorbidities, types of surgeries, training levels of anesthesia providers, and practices for airway management were collected. The primary outcome was the occurrence of adverse events related to airway management procedures during general anesthesia; the secondary outcome was desaturation, defined as a drop in oxygen saturation of at least 10%. Occurrences of any adverse events, including at least one hemodynamic and airway-related complication, and respiratory adverse events were recorded, and risk factors for adverse events and desaturation were identified. TAKEAWAY: Any adverse events occurred in 2% of cases of airway management, and desaturation was noted in 2.3% of cases. The incidence of any adverse events was 5.8% in neonates and 3.3% in infants, higher than that in preschool and school-going children and adolescents. Increasing age was linked to reduced odds of any adverse events (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.92; P < .001). Insertion of a supraglottic airway device and the use of muscle relaxants at first attempt were also linked to reduced odds of any adverse events. Factors associated with increased odds of any adverse events included undergoing anesthesia in CT, MRI, or radiation therapy rooms (aOR, 5.7; P = .006); having airway sensitivity (aOR, 1.46; P = .010); and having one (aOR, 1.74; P = .042) or at least two (aOR, 2.82; P = .017) anatomic difficulties. The odds of desaturation decreased with increasing age (aOR, 0.78; P < .001) but were higher when anesthesia was provided in catheter labs and CT, MRI, or radiology therapy rooms than when provided in operating rooms. Airway management by nonspecialist anesthesiologists and trainees also was linked to higher odds of desaturation than when the intervention was performed by pediatric anesthetists. IN PRACTICE: 'Our study, focusing specifically on airway management, showed that approximately 21% of neonates and 7% of infants experienced desaturation, which was higher than that in other age groups,' the researchers reported. 'Neonates' unique physiological and anatomical characteristics can explain this hypoxic progression tendency…The higher desaturation incidence in neonates in our study highlights the necessity for shorter tracheal intubation time and higher first-attempt success rates in neonates,' they added. SOURCE: This study was led by Taiki Kojima, MD, MPH, of the Department of Anesthesiology at Aichi Children's Health and Medical Center in Obu, Japan. It was published online on July 07, 2025, in Anesthesiology. LIMITATIONS: The reliance on self-reported data from anesthesiologists may have introduced reporting bias and inaccuracies. Selection bias could have occurred due to missing cases, and unmeasured confounders may have affected the results. The exact incidence of adverse events by device type remained unclear due to multiple attempts with different devices. DISCLOSURES: The J-PEDIA study was funded by grants from the Ministry of Education in Japan. This study received Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education in Japan. No additional conflicts of interest were disclosed by the authors. This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
