Essentials of Equipment in Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Perioperative Medicine

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Healthcare-associated infections are the leading cause of preventable disease. In the United Kingdom, they are responsible for more than 5000 deaths per year and cost the National Health Service over £1billion every year. Failure to adequately decontaminate equipment carries not…

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The electrical equipment used in the operating theatre and intensive care unit is designed to improve patient care and safety. At the same time, however, there is the potential of exposing both the patient and staff to an increased risk…

Introduction Point-of-care (POC) testing is an ever-expanding area of biomedical science and is now essential to efficient patient care. As the name implies, the goal is to collect the specimen to be tested and obtain the results in a short…

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) CPAP is a spontaneous breathing mode used in the intensive care unit during anaesthesia and for patients requiring respiratory support at home. It increases the functional residual capacity (FRC) and improves oxygenation. CPAP prevents alveolar…

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) PCA represents one of the most significant advances in the treatment of postoperative pain. Improved technology enables pumps to accurately deliver boluses of opioid when a demand button is activated by the patient. It is the patient…

Invasive arterial pressure monitoring Invasive arterial pressure monitoring provides beat-to-beat real-time information with sustained accuracy. Components 1. An indwelling Teflon arterial cannula (20-G or 22-G) is used ( Fig. 11.1 ). The cannula has parallel walls to minimize the effect…

Clinical observation provides vital information regarding the patient. Observations gained from the use of the various monitors should augment that information; skin perfusion, capillary refill, cyanosis, pallor, skin temperature and turgor, chest movement and heart auscultation are just a few…