Hospital length of stay: A cross-specialty analysis and Beta-geometric model.

Background: The typical hospital Length of Stay (LOS) distribution is known to be right-skewed, to vary considerably across Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs), and to contain markedly high values, in significant proportions. These very long stays are often considered outliers, and thin-tailed statistical distributions are assumed. However, resource consumption and planning occur at the level of medical specialty departments covering multiple DRGs, and when considered at this decision-making scale, extreme LOS values represent a significant component of the distribution of LOS (the right tail) that determines many of its statistical properties.

Can ketamine potentiate the analgesic effect of epidural morphine, preincisional or postincisional administration?

A randomized controlled trial was conducted to determine the effect of adding epidural ketamine to epidural morphine comparing between giving ketamine at preincisional time and postincisional time on postoperative analgesia in patients undergoing gynecological operations. Eighty patients scheduled for gynecological operation under combined epidural-general anesthesia were randomly divided into 4 groups. Group 1 received epidural morphine 3 mg before skin incision.

Cuffed oropharyngeal airway in the patients undergoing short surgical procedures.

Objective: This study was designed to study the efficacy of Cuffed oropharyngeal airway (COPA) in the patients undergoing short surgical procedures at Siriraj Hospital.

Materials And Method: A prospective study of 65 patients, age 15-65 years, scheduled for elective short surgical procedures under general anesthesia were managed with COPA. Lip-mandibular angle distance was used to indicate the appropriate size of COPA.

Can lidocaine reduce succinylcholine induced postoperative myalgia?

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of lidocaine pretreatment on reduction of succinylcholine-induced myalgia in patients undergoing general anesthesia for gynecological surgery. One hundred and thirty-five patients were assigned to one of three groups in a prospective, double blind, randomized manner. Group PS, the control group, received normal saline and succinylcholine 1.