Demystifying the role of anaesthetists in clinical coding in the Australian healthcare system.

Despite the self-evident importance of hospital funding, many anaesthetists remain unsure of exactly how their daily work relates to hospital reimbursement. A lack of awareness of the nuances of the Australian hospital activity-based funding system has the potential to affect anaesthetic department reimbursement and thus resourcing. Activity-based funding relies on clinical coders reviewing clinical documentation and quantifying the care given to a patient during an admission.

2021 Update on airway management from the Anaesthesia Continuing Education Airway Management Special Interest Group.

Airway Management is the key for anaesthetists dealing with patients undergoing diagnostic procedures and surgical interventions. The present coronavirus pandemic underpins even more how important safe airway management is. It also highlights the need to apply stringent precautions to avoid infection and ongoing transmission to patients, anaesthetists and other healthcare workers (HCWs).

Frequency and clinical spectrum of in-flight medical incidents during domestic and international flights.

Most medical practitioners are not specifically trained to diagnose or manage in-flight medical incidents, yet there may occur a moral obligation to do so when least expected. We felt that knowledge of the frequency of emergency versus non-serious medical incidents, in addition to the clinical spectrum of incidents most often encountered, would be of interest to medical practitioners and, in particular, critical care physicians, who happen to find themselves asked to assist with such events. To this end we collaborated with the Department of Medical Services of a major Australian airline to define the incidence, severity, and type of all in-flight medical events encountered over the course of a year's flights.

Videolaryngoscopes differ substantially in illumination of the oral cavity: A manikin study.

Background And Aims: Insufficient illumination of the oral cavity during endotracheal intubation may result in suboptimal conditions. Consequently, suboptimal illumination and laryngoscopy may lead to potential unwanted trauma to soft tissues of the pharyngeal mucosa. We investigated illumination of the oral cavity by different videolaryngoscopes (VLS) in a manikin model.

Mathematical method to build an empirical model for inhaled anesthetic agent wash-in.

Background: The wide range of fresh gas flow - vaporizer setting (FGF - FD) combinations used by different anesthesiologists during the wash-in period of inhaled anesthetics indicates that the selection of FGF and FD is based on habit and personal experience. An empirical model could rationalize FGF - FD selection during wash-in.

Methods: During model derivation, 50 ASA PS I-II patients received desflurane in O2 with an ADU® anesthesia machine with a random combination of a fixed FGF - FD setting.