Validating Parallel-Forms Tests for Assessing Anesthesia Resident Knowledge.

We created a serious game to teach first year anesthesiology (CA-1) residents to perform general anesthesia for cesarean delivery. We aimed to investigate resident knowledge gains after playing the game and having received one of 2 modalities of debriefing. We report on the development and validation of scores from parallel test forms for criterion-referenced interpretations of resident knowledge.

Development and Implementation of a Clinician-Educator Track for Residents in Anesthesiology.

Background: Clinician-educators in academic settings have often had no formal training in teaching or in giving feedback to trainees. We implemented a Clinician-Educator Track within the Department of Anesthesiology with the initial goal of improving teaching skills through a didactic curriculum and experiential opportunities for a broad audience of faculty, fellows, and residents. We then assessed our program for feasibility and effectiveness.

Development of a Multiple-Choice Test for Novice Anesthesia Residents to Evaluate Knowledge Related to Management of General Anesthesia for Urgent Cesarean Delivery.

Background: Teaching trainees the knowledge and skills to perform general anesthesia (GA) for cesarean delivery (CD) requires innovative strategies, as they may never manage such cases in training. We used a multistage design process to create a criterion-referenced multiple-choice test as an assessment tool to evaluate CA1's knowledge related to this scenario.

Methods: Three faculty created 33 questions, categorized as: (1) physiologic changes of pregnancy (PCP), (2) pharmacology (PHA), (3) anesthetic implications of pregnancy (AIP), and (4) crisis resource management principles (CRM).

Aortocaval Compression Syndrome: Time to Revisit Certain Dogmas.

More than 70 years ago, the phenomenon of "postural shock" in the supine position was described in healthy women in late pregnancy. Since then, avoidance of the supine position has become a key component of clinical practice. Indeed, performing pelvic tilt in mothers at term to avoid aortocaval compression is a universally adopted measure, particularly during cesarean delivery.

Left Lateral Table Tilt for Elective Cesarean Delivery under Spinal Anesthesia Has No Effect on Neonatal Acid-Base Status: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Current recommendations for women undergoing cesarean delivery include 15° left tilt for uterine displacement to prevent aortocaval compression, although this degree of tilt is practically never achieved. We hypothesized that under contemporary clinical practice, including a crystalloid coload and phenylephrine infusion targeted at maintaining baseline systolic blood pressure, there would be no effect of maternal position on neonatal acid base status in women undergoing elective cesarean delivery with spinal anesthesia.

Methods: Healthy women undergoing elective cesarean delivery were randomized (nonblinded) to supine horizontal (supine, n = 50) or 15° left tilt of the surgical table (tilt, n = 50) after spinal anesthesia (hyperbaric bupivacaine 12 mg, fentanyl 15 μg, preservative-free morphine 150 μg).

Ultrasound-guided bilateral transversus abdominis plane blocks in conjunction with intrathecal morphine for postcesarean analgesia.

Study Objective: To determine whether transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks administered in conjunction with intrathecal morphine provided superior analgesia to intrathecal morphine alone.

Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Setting: Operating room of a university hospital.

Bilateral multi-injection iliohypogastric-ilioinguinal nerve block in conjunction with neuraxial morphine is superior to neuraxial morphine alone for postcesarean analgesia.

Study Objective: To determine whether bilateral iliohypogastric and ilioinguinal (IHII) peripheral nerve blocks, given in conjunction with neuraxial morphine, reduce postcesarean analgesic requirements and side effects, resulting in improved maternal satisfaction.

Design: Randomized, prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study.

Setting: Labor and delivery suite at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Cardiac output assessed by invasive and minimally invasive techniques.

Cardiac output (CO) measurement has long been considered essential to the assessment and guidance of therapeutic decisions in critically ill patients and for patients undergoing certain high-risk surgeries. Despite controversies, complications and inherent errors in measurement, pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) continuous and intermittent bolus techniques of CO measurement continue to be the gold standard. Newer techniques provide less invasive alternatives; however, currently available monitors are unable to provide central circulation pressures or true mixed venous saturations.

Ultrasound assessment of the vertebral level of the intercristal line in pregnancy.

Background: The intercristal line is known to most frequently cross the L4 spinous process or L4-5 interspace; however, it is speculated to be positioned higher during pregnancy because of the exaggerated lumbar lordosis. Clinical estimation of vertebral levels relying on the use of the intercristal line has been shown to often be inaccurate. We hypothesized that the vertebral level of the intercristal line determined by palpation would be higher than the level determined by ultrasound in pregnant women.

Severe transfusion-related acute lung injury managed with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in an obstetric patient.

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is the leading cause of transfusion-related mortality in the United States. Management is usually supportive, including supplemental oxygen, intravenous fluids, and mechanical ventilation if necessary. Most patients recover within 72 hours.

Infection associated with central venous or epidural catheters: how to reduce it?

Purpose Of Review: Central venous catheters are a leading source of nosocomial bloodstream infection with an estimated 10% mortality. Infection associated with epidural catheterization is an uncommon but devastating complication. Diagnosis of spinal epidural abscess requires a high index of suspicion and imaging techniques such as MRI.