Cost of sterility: probe covers should not be mandated for single-shot peripheral nerve blocks.

Ultrasound guidance has become ubiquitous with regional anesthesia, but little consistency exists on necessary ultrasound probe hygiene and sterility barriers. Fear of possible infection has led to calls for universal use of sterile ultrasound probe covers. Available data seems to suggest that single-shot peripheral nerve blocks have a low infectious risk.

My anesthesia Choice-HF: development and preliminary testing of a tool to facilitate conversations about anesthesia for hip fracture surgery.

Background: Patients often desire involvement in anesthesia decisions, yet clinicians rarely explain anesthesia options or elicit preferences. We developed My Anesthesia Choice-Hip Fracture, a conversation aid about anesthesia options for hip fracture surgery and tested its preliminary efficacy and acceptability.

Methods: We developed a 1-page, tabular format, plain-language conversation aid with feedback from anesthesiologists, decision scientists, and community advisors.

Drug Interactions Causing Warfarin Overdose in a Patient with Pancreatic Cancer: A Case Report.

Mistletoe, Viscum album, is a medicinal plant used in complementary medicine in oncology. Patients do not necessarily mention to their oncologist this phytotherapeutic treatment which may be responsible for unsuspected drug interactions. Some patients are adept at taking medicinal plants, a practice often unknown to health professionals who take care of them.

Perioperative costs of local or regional anesthesia versus general anesthesia in the outpatient setting: a systematic review of recent literature.

Background And Objectives: In this systematic review, we carried out an assessment of perioperative costs of local or regional anesthesia versus general anesthesia in the ambulatory setting.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted to find relevant data on costs and cost-effectiveness analyses of anesthesia regimens in outpatients, regardless of the medical procedure they underwent. The hypothesis was that local or regional anesthesia has a lower economic impact on hospital costs in the outpatient setting.

Patient Involvement in Anesthesia Decision-making: A Qualitative Study of Knee Arthroplasty.

Background: Calls to better involve patients in decisions about anesthesia-e.g., through shared decision-making-are intensifying.

Analgesic efficacy of adding the IPACK block to a multimodal analgesia protocol for primary total knee arthroplasty.

Background And Objectives: Peripheral nerve blocks have been integrated into most multimodal analgesia protocols for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The adductor canal block (ACB) has gained popularity because of its quadriceps muscle sparing. Similarly, local anesthetic injection between the popliteal artery and the posterior capsule of the knee, IPACK block, has been described to provide analgesia to the posterior capsule of the knee with motor-sparing qualities.

Efficacy and tolerability of alirocumab in Austrian clinical practice - results of the non-interventional PEARL-AT study.

Objective: Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 inhibition can be an effective treatment in patients with primary hypercholesterolemia, particularly in cases with concomitant coronary heart disease, peripheral artery occlusive disease or cerebrovascular occlusive disease for secondary prevention after an acute atherosclerotic ischemic event. The primary objective of the PEARL-AT study was to assess effectiveness and safety of alirocumab in a real-world setting in Austria.

Methods: Non-interventional, prospective study conducted across Austria between September 2016 and July 2018.

Music versus midazolam during preoperative nerve block placements: a prospective randomized controlled study.

Background And Objectives: Music medicine is a non-pharmacologic intervention that is virtually harm-free, relatively inexpensive and has been shown to significantly decrease preoperative anxiety. In this study we aim to compare the use of music to midazolam as a preoperative anxiolytic prior to the administration of an ultrasound-guided single-injection peripheral nerve block.

Methods: In this randomized controlled study we compared the anxiolytic effects of intravenous midazolam (1-2 mg) with noise-canceling headphone-delivered music medicine.

An Investigation of Patient Preferences for Music Played Before Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Objective: Patients often feel anxious before electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which can lead to avoidance of treatments. Music is a noninvasive safe option to reduce anxiety in the preoperative setting. Therefore, we examined patients' preferences of listening to music while receiving ECT by providing music-by way of headphones or speakers-to participants before treatment.

Tobacco and alcohol during pregnancy: prevalence and determinants in Geneva in 2008.

Objectives: To describe alcohol and tobacco consumption during pregnancy in women giving birth in a public hospital in Geneva, to evaluate risk factors related to these consumptions and to explore the influence of close relatives on the consumption habits of pregnant women.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey after delivery in 207 women in the maternity ward of the Geneva University Hospitals in 2008. We used retrospective self-reports of smoking during pregnancy (including temporary smoking), smoking during the entire pregnancy and alcohol drinking during pregnancy (even a single glass).

Obstacles associated with organizational change.

This article briefly explores one view of the change process, discusses obstacles to change, the means to deal with these obstacles, and describes change principles and specific examples of change strategies that commonly work.

[Impact of a 10-year nation-wide campaign on knowledge of sensible drinking limits in Denmark].

Introduction: In Great Britain and in Denmark, strong efforts have been made to influence knowledge on the upper threshold of hazardous drinking. In Denmark, a campaign has been repeated every week 40 from 1990 to 2001 with information on the sensible drinking limits of 21 drinks per week for men and 14 drinks per week for women. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of this ongoing campaign on the level of knowledge of sensible drinking limits for men and women.

Impact of age on reference values for serum concentration of cystatin C in children.

Recently, cystatin C (cyst C) was proposed for the assessment of glomerular filtration rate, being more accurate than creatinine determination. Reference intervals for cyst C do not vary with age and sex, like creatinine values. Elevated values of cyst C were reported for pre- and full-term infants.

Impact of a 10-year nation-wide alcohol campaign on knowledge of sensible drinking limits in Denmark.

In Great Britain and in Denmark, strong efforts have been made to influence knowledge on upper threshold for hazardous drinking. In Denmark, a campaign has been repeated every week 40 from 1990 to 2000 with information on the sensible drinking limits of 21 drinks per week for men and 14 drinks per week for women. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of this ongoing campaign on the level of knowledge of sensible drinking limits for men and women.

[Smoking regulations in Danish hospitals].

An investigation undertaken by the Danish Council on Smoking and Health in July 1989 concerning smoking rules in Danish hospitals reveals that still fewer hospitals or hospital departments permit entirely free smoking. Conditions are, however, far from satisfactory everywhere. Smoking is permitted in no less than 28% of hospital wards in Denmark.

[Knowledge and attitudes to the tobacco problem among Danish physicians, nurses and midwives in 1989].

In an investigation including 2,233 Danish doctors, nurses and midwives between 72 and 96% replied that they found definite proof of connections between smoking and the diseases: cancer of the lung, cardiac infarction and chronic bronchitis. The highest percentages were found among doctors and, in all three instances, among nonsmokers. Approximately 2/3 of the persons questioned felt inconvenienced by other peoples' tobacco smoke.