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atric patient to the elderly patient suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome. The control of more variables means more control
over the anesthetic agents we deliver to patients.
3. Flow control. Low-flow anesthesia is an increasingly popular solution to curb the expense of general anesthesia. Instead of burning off
a lot of sevoflurane or desflurane through higher flows, delivering
higher concentrations of these agents at lower flows can prove more
cost-effective and prevent waste. The latest anesthesia machines have
electronic flow meters that can calculate the most efficient amount of
gas to use.
4. Ease of use. Touchscreen controls for gas delivery, automated calibration and leak testing, and electronic locks and bar-code scanning
for drug security and inventory management put a lot of power right
at your fingertips. When you're trialing anesthesia machines, make
sure their interfaces are intuitive. When you're in a hurry situation,
working from muscle memory, you'll want it to be easy to take immediate action. Ideally, technology is designed to make you more efficient, but if its little hang-ups place obstacles in the path of your
practices, that can create a large amount of stress in a day.
Be sure to consult with the providers and groups that work at your
facility. There's no better way to educate yourself on the features they
most need. Given the level of monitoring capabilities demanded by different surgical specialties and your differing needs for medical record
connectivity, one model might not suit every user, but the right one
should serve all of your anesthesia staff's needs. OSM
Mr. Rodriguez (jadamr15@gmail.com) is a staff nurse
anesthetist with Arizona Heart Anesthesia in Phoenix.
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