Improved Testing Results for International Medical Graduates.

Background: Although it is well known that low scores by residents in their in-training examinations predict failure at eventual certification, there is a paucity of information regarding results with focused intervention.

Methods: Over a two-year period, international medical graduates (IMGs) accepted as CA-1 residents in the Department of Anesthesiology were provided an intensive one-month text-based teaching program focusing on anesthesia-specific medical knowledge. The Anesthesia Knowledge Test® (Metrics Associates, Inc.

A new method to evaluate cardiovascular response in anesthetized rats. Hypertension after variable intensity, brief electrical stimuli.

To establish and standardize a nociceptive response in anesthetized rats, the hypertensive responses to defined electrical and mechanical stimuli were studied. Rats (n = 7) were given etomidate, 3.8 mg/kg/hr intravenously (i.

A new model to evaluate the hypertensive response to noxious stimuli in the anesthetized, spontaneously hypertensive rat.

We have developed a method to evaluate the hypertensive response after noxious stimuli in anesthetized rats. Anesthetic level, stimuli, and responses were standardized by using an etomidate infusion, a series of stimuli of increasing intensity applied to the tail, and measuring maximal changes in systolic blood pressure (delta SBP) after each stimulus. Normotensive Sprague Dawley rats (SD) (n = 7) were studied using an etomidate infusion of 4.

General anesthesia for cesarean section in a parturient with a single ventricle and pulmonary atresia.

The successful management of a cesarean section in a parturient with a single ventricle and pulmonary atresia using general anesthesia is discussed. After cyanosis at birth, the patient underwent cardiac catheterization, which showed an apparent severe tetralogy of Fallot, atresia of the main pulmonary artery (PA), and a large patent ductus arteriosus. When she was 7 months of age, a Blalock-Taussig shunt (right subclavian artery to right PA) was done.

Backache after extradural anaesthesia in the postpartum period: dissection of thoracic aneurysm.

We describe a case of postpartum ruptured dissecting aneurysm of the thoracic aorta, unrelated to the anaesthetic management with extradural anaesthesia. This complication is discussed in detail, as the anaesthetist may be the specialist required to respond to the common presenting symptom of severe back pain.