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occur at any time," she says.
Even patients who've had previous surgeries without experiencing MH might
be at risk, notes Ms. Clifford, adding that it can take up to 6 exposures to anes-
thesia to have an event.
"ASCs can provide a safe anesthetic," says Mr. Klotz, who cares for patients in
both surgery centers and hospitals. "The real issue surrounds the safe transport
of stricken patients to a hospital for definitive care."
So can high-risk patients be safely operated on in outpatient facilities?
"Absolutely," says Ms. Clifford. "Knowing that they have the propensity for an event
is half the battle. There are better anesthetic techniques now that don't require use
of triggering agents."
When sedating high-risk patients, MHAUS recommends you flush anesthesia
circuits with pure oxygen for 20 minutes and monitor them longer than normal
in PACU.
Pre-anesthesia assess-
ments are a good screen-
ing tool that help identify
at-risk patients, but you'll
never know for sure.
Always expect the unex-
pected, and practice emer-
gency responses often
enough so your surgical
staff feels as if they've
already seen their life-sav-
ing response in action.
OSM
E-mail
dcook @outpa -
tientsurg ery.net
.
P A T I E N T S A F E T Y
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