This new section on Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) is an attempt to provide the exam going candidates with latest evidence based developments in the field of anaesthesia, pain management and intensive care. These topics are extremely important as they form the basis of many exam questions both ESAQ's and vivas. This is our attempt to consolidate all the latest EBM topics and clinical guidelines so that the candidates will get all the important topics under one roof and not waste time searching for them. Hope you find it useful in your preparation.
Blood transfusion and the Anaesthetist - Intraoperative cell salvage.
APA Guidelines on the Prevention of Postoperative Vomiting in Children New Guidelines for Prevention of postoperative Vomiting in children by Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists. Its worth reading the summary of the document in the pages 26-28. Likely topic to be asked as an SAQ in final exams. Link to the Guidelines http://www.apagbi.org.uk/docs/Final%20APA%20POV%20Guidelines%20ASC%2002%2009%20compressed.pdf
Prophylaxis against Infective Endocarditis - NICE Guidelines Mrach 2008 New recommendations for prophylaxis against infective endocarditis came out in March 2008. This is the link to quick reference guide http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/CG64PIEQRG.pdf
Also this months (Feb) BJA has published special article on NAP3 , its worth going through quickly as this has changed the views about central neuraxial blockade and their complications and currently has been hot topic. potential SAQ in near future either in FRCA or FCARCSI exams.
Infection Control in Anaesthesia 2008 ( AAGBI Guidelines)
WHO surgical safety check list This is to replace the correct site surgery guidelines 2005. Potential repeat SAQ in final FRCA/FCARCSI. This question has already been asked in the past and with introduction of WHO new guidelines it may get repeated. Click on the link below to read the new guidelines http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/resources/clinical-specialty/surgery
Management of hypertension
Management of hypertension is of importance both to anaesthetists and intensivists. The following link is from updated NICE(National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guidelines. It has incorporated the updated British Hypertension Society guideline regarding the therapeutic options for hypertension. http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/cg034quickrefguide.pdf
Ultrasound guided catheterisation of the epidural space
This is a NICE guideline which looks at the evidence on ultrasound-guided catheterisation of the epidural space. Its main conclusion is that the evidence is limited in amount, but suggests that it is safe and may be helpful in achieving correct placement. http://www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/pdf/IPG249Guidance.pdf
Perioperative management of morbidly obese patients
The prevalence of obesity in the developed world has increased significantly in recent years.Increasing numbers of obese patients are presenting for surgery both bariatric and non bariatric operations. The following is a link to AAGBI guideline for perioperative management of morbidly obese patients. http://www.aagbi.org/publications/guidelines/docs/Obesity07.pdf
Standards for monitoring during anaesthesia and recovery
It is a new guideline form AAGBI and it provides instruction and help to those arranging transfers and those involved in actual transfer of patients in between hospitals. It is a very important SAQ topic
Head injury management is a very important area in which most of us anaesthetists and intensivists are involved. It is a very important question for both Final FCARCSI and Final FRCA exams both in SAQ and Viva. The first link is a new updated guideline from NICE and the second one is a slightly older guideline from AAGBI
