Meditation for the reduction of perioperative anxiety in patients undergoing oncology surgery: A scoping review.

Objective: Patients undergoing surgery, particularly patients undergoing surgery for oncology diagnoses, experience anxiety. Surgery remains the primary treatment for many common types of cancer. One promising potential intervention to alleviate anxiety in the preoperative and postoperative period is meditation, an integrative medicine intervention. However, there remains a gap in the literature regarding the effectiveness of meditation to alleviate anxiety during the perioperative time period. Methods: The scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework to synthesize the study findings and was reported with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The review included EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, and Cochrane Review databases from 2013 through 2024. All identified articles were exported to the online systematic review software, Covidence. Results: A total of 538 initial citations were identified, 415 titles and abstracts were screened, and 83 full-text articles reviewed. Six studies were finally included. The data extracted from the literature included: study purpose, study design, sample size, preoperative or postoperative timeframe, instrument to evaluate anxiety, and conclusions. Conclusions: For patients undergoing oncology surgery, the perioperative period can be filled with anxiety. Guided, mindfulness, and loving-kindness meditation may be helpful in reducing anxiety, particularly in patients undergoing surgery for breast cancer during the postoperative period. However, the current literature is extremely limited. Future research should expand on the preliminary effectiveness to broader populations and carefully target the highest-risk populations for the ideal time point for interventions.

Impact of Replacing Fentanyl With Hydromorphone as the First-Line Postoperative Opioid Among Patients Undergoing Outpatient Cancer Surgery.

PURPOSE: In response to a nationwide fentanyl shortage, our institution assessed whether changing our first-line postoperative intravenous opioid from fentanyl to hydromorphone impacted patient outcomes. The primary research aim was to evaluate the association between first-line opioid and rapidity of recovery. DESIGN: The study team retrospectively obtained data on all consecutive patients extracted from the electronic medical record. The rapidity of recovery was defined as the time from entry into the postanesthesia care unit to the transition to Phase 2 for ambulatory extended recovery patients and as the length of total postanesthesia care unit stay for outpatients. METHODS: Following intent-to-treat-principles, we tested the association between study period and rapidity of recovery (a priori clinically meaningful difference: 20 minutes) using multivariable linear regression, adjusting for anesthesia type (general vs monitored anesthesia care), American Society of Anesthesiologst physical status (ASA) score (1-2 vs 3-4), age, service, robotic procedure, and surgery start time. FINDINGS: Ambulatory extended recovery patients treated in the hydromorphone period had, on average, a 0.25 minute (95% confidence interval [CI] -6.5, 7.0), nonstatistically significant (P > .9) longer time to transition. For outpatient procedures, those who received hydromorphone had, on average, 8.5-minute longer stays (95% CI 3.7-13, P < .001). Although we saw statistical evidence of an increased risk of resurgery associated with receiving hydromorphone (0.5%; 95% CI -0.1%, 1.0%; P = .039 on univariate analysis), the size of the estimate is clinically and biologically implausible and is most likely a chance finding related either to multiple testing or confounding. CONCLUSIONS: The multidisciplinary team concluded that the increase in postoperative length of stay associated with hydromorphone was not clinically significant and the decrease waste of prefilled syringes outweighed the small potential increased risk of resurgery compared to the shorter-acting fentanyl. We will therefore use hydromorphone moving forward.

Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) in an outpatient oncology surgery setting to securely email, collect, and manage survey data.

BACKGROUND: Nursing interventions in the post-operative time period including psychological and emotional support, adverse event education, and instructions for follow-up care contribute patient satisfaction, safety, and quality of life. However, the time spent in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) and hospital continues to shorten around the world to reduce health care spending and improve patient outcomes. Nurses conducting research during the important post-operative recovery period need to utilize unique techniques and emerging technologies to contact, recruit and collect data outside of the hospital setting including the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) platform. AIMS: This paper describes the feasibility and acceptability, facilitators and barriers of the software application, REDCap, to complete a repeated-measures, descriptive correlational study in patients undergoing outpatient breast cancer surgeries. METHODS & MATERIALS: The recruitment, data collection and storage were completed utilizing the secure REDCap Platform. The Institutional Research Board (IRB)-approved study was a repeated-measures, descriptive, correlational study with data collection at three time points. The data points aligned with important transitions and routine visits to improve data collection feasibility and increase relevance to clinical practice. RESULTS: The sample consisted of women diagnosed with breast cancer undergoing breast conserving surgery between August 15 and October 15, 2020. There were 123 potential participants, of which 76 started the surveys and 75 participated (61%) responded and participated in the study on Post-operative Day 1. Fifty-nine participants (78%) completed the surveys on post-operative Day 14. DISCUSSION: As the frequency of outpatient treatment increases, nurses conducting post-operative research will need to collect the data outside of the hospital setting. CONCLUSION: Email provides a method of studying new phenomena by recruiting participants, providing information about the study, and collecting results in a non-traditional setting. REDCap provides a method to facilitate nursing research through a securely encrypted integrated process.

Implementation of an enhanced recovery protocol in patients undergoing mastectomies for breast cancer: an interrupted time-series design.

Background: We reviewed internal data and the current literature to update our enhanced recovery protocol (ERP) for patients undergoing a total breast mastectomy. Following implementation, the protocol was audited by chart review and compliance reminders were sent through email. Objective: Our primary research aim was to examine the protocol compliance following the update. Our secondary aims were to examine the association between the change in protocol and the rates of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and hematoma formation requiring reoperation. Methods: We retrospectively obtained data extracted from the electronic medical record. To test for a difference in outcomes before versus after implementation of the protocol we used multivariable logistic regression with the primary comparisons excluding a â€‹± â€‹one-month window and secondary comparisons excluding a â€‹± â€‹three-month window from the date of implementation. Results: Our cohort included 5853 unique patients. Total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) compliance increased by 17%-52% (P â€‹< â€‹0.001) and the use of intraoperative ketorolac dropped from 44% to nearly no utilization (0.7%; P â€‹< â€‹0.001). The rate of reoperation due to bleeding decreased from 3.6% to 2.6% after implementation with the adjusted decrease being 1.0% (bootstrap 95% CI, 0.11%, 1.9%; P â€‹= â€‹0.053) excluding a â€‹± â€‹1 month window and 1.2% (bootstrap 95% CI, 0.24%, 2.0%; P â€‹= â€‹0.028) excluding a â€‹± â€‹3-month window. The rate of rescue antiemetics dropped by 6.4% (95% CI, 3.9%, 9.0%). Conclusions: We were able to improve compliance for nearly all components of the protocol which translated to a meaningful change in an important patient outcome.

Effects of Midazolam on Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting and Discharge Times in Outpatients Undergoing Cancer-Related Surgery.

Midazolam, a short-acting benzodiazepine used for preoperative anxiolysis, may also have pharmacologic properties that could further reduce the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in high-risk patients when included in a multimodal antiemetic protocol. However, concerns remain that the sedating properties of midazolam will delay discharge after short outpatient procedures. A retrospective data analysis (N = 4,057) investigated effects of midazolam on postoperative antiemetic administration and length of stay following cancer-related outpatient procedures over 15 months. Following initial univariate analysis, a multivariable model adjusting for Apfel score, surgical service, age, length of surgery, and type of anesthesia was created to test these associations. The multivariable analysis demonstrated that midazolam was associated with reduced need for postoperative antiemetic medications (3.2% lower than no-midazolam group; 95% confidence interval = 0.03%-6.0%, P = .032). Furthermore, the multivariable analysis demonstrated no clinically significant effect on postoperative length of stay (7.9 minutes shorter in midazolam group; 95% confidence interval = -20 to 4.4, P = .2). In patients for whom midazolam is not otherwise indicated, evidence is insufficient to warrant midazolam administration solely to prevent PONV. Randomized trials are needed to provide an accurate estimation of the effect size of midazolam for PONV in these patients.