Obstetric anaesthesia manpower and service provision issues (introduction and European perspective).

Global health is an important and far-reaching concept in which health and access to surgical and anaesthetic care is crucial. Universal access to anaesthesia is a challenge in many countries. Manpower shortages are an important cause of difficulties and each European country has found different ways of facing a lack of healthcare professionals. In obstetric anaesthesia, the availability of competent anaesthesiologists has been related to the morbidity and mortality outcomes of patients. In this narrative review, authors from different European countries explain how manpower is managed in obstetric anaesthesia in delivery suites and obstetric operating rooms in different settings. To address manpower difficulties and issues, the goals are to achieve a minimum standard of care and at the same time, to promote clinical excellence through training, delegation to younger or less experienced colleagues, direct or at-a-distance supervision, or other means. The experience of sharing knowledge about the way in which manpower and service provision are organised in other healthcare settings is a significant opportunity to develop strategies for advancing tomorrow's obstetric anaesthesia in the world. While taking into account the level of socio-economic development in different countries, the aim is to standardise practice and workload organisation. Co-operative international projects in training and education in obstetric anaesthesia are ways in which better obstetric patient care can be achieved in the future.

Gender differences in Anaesthesiology. At what point do we find ourselves in Spain? Results from a Spanish survey. / Diferencias de género en Anestesiología. ¿En qué punto nos encontramos en España? Resultados de una encuesta nacional.

OBJECTIVE: Publications of diverse medical specialties confirm that gender differences still exist in the medical field. This particular study aims to investigate whether this problem exists in the specialty of Anaesthesiology in Spain. METHODS: An anonymous survey was distributed among anaesthesiologists in Spain. It had 39 questions and was designed to investigate professional position, work conditions, personal situation, and individual perceptions. The goal was to target the majority of anaesthesiologists working in Spain. RESULTS: Completed surveys were received from 1,619 respondents which represents 17.6% of the total number of anaesthesiologists in Spain; 654 respondents were male (40.4%) and 965 were female (59.6%). The greater differences were found in the following areas: 70.0% of the respondents advised that their head of department is male. When asked about management and leadership positions, 25.2% of female respondents had ever had any management role in contrast to 46.1% of men (p<0.001). Regarding academic positions, 10.3% of male respondents are university professors in contrast to only 4.8% of women (p<0.001). 46.0% of the women surveyed believe that gender discrimination exists in the workplace whereas only 12.6% of men reported the same. A third of women (36.6%) consider their gender a barrier to promotion and fear losing their job due to pregnancy. Furthermore, both genders have witnessed patients and colleagues treating staff differently according to gender. CONCLUSION: The results of the survey show the existence of a gender gap among Spanish anaesthesiologists. Of particular note, women are under-represented in academic and leadership positions. Additionally, a considerable percentage of respondents perceive gender-based discrimination to be active in their workplaces. This study could serve as a template for future research in other neighbouring countries and as a means to monitor any changes in coming years.

Diagnostic nerve blocks in the management of low back pain secondary to facet joint syndrome. / Bloqueos diagnósticos en el manejo del paciente con lumbalgia secundaria a síndrome facetario.

Low back pain is currently one of the main public health problems. Among the multiple causes, pain in the zygapophysial joints, also called facets or posterior vertebral joints, are an important cause, usually secondary to osteoarthritis. The source of low back pain is often difficult to find, making the therapeutic approach to the patient sub-optimal. Diagnostic blocks are a very important tool in establishing an adequate treatment for patients with low back pain, as long as they are performed accurately, with an adequate local anaesthetic volume, with a suitable image and fluoroscopic projection and its result are precisely interpreted. In this article a review is presented on the importance of diagnostic blocks, as well as how they should be performed in order to obtain the maximum information and the greatest therapeutic benefit.

Prognosis and predictors of mortality in critically ill elderly patients. / Pronóstico y predictores de mortalidad de los pacientes ancianos críticos.

OBJECTIVES: to evaluate mortality of patients≥80 years admitted to the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU), global hospital mortality and factors related to it. MATERIAL AND METHODS: observational retrospective study of patients≥80 years admitted to SICU between June 2012 and June 2015. RESULTS: a total of 299 patients were included, 54 of them died in the SICU (18.1%) and 80 patients (26.8%) died during their hospital stay. SICU mortality was independently related to age (OR=1.125; 95%CI: 1.042-1.215; P=.003), SAPS II (OR=1.026; 95% CI: 1.008-1.044; P=.004), need for renal replacement therapy (RRT) (OR=1.960; 95%CI: 1.046-3.671; P=.036) and need for mechanical ventilation for more than 24hours (OR=2.834; 95%CI: 1.244-6.456; P=.013). Factors independently related to hospital mortality were age (OR=1.125; 95%CI: 1.054-1.192; P<.001), SOFA score (OR=1.154; 95% CI: 1.079-1.235; P<.001), need for RRT (OR=1.924; 95%CI: 1.121-3.302; p=0.018) and need for mechanical ventilation for more than 24hours (OR=3.144; 95% CI: 1.771-5.584; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: In critically ill patients over 80 years hospital mortality was independently related to age, SOFA score, RRT need and need for mechanical ventilation for more than 24hours. Our results raise important issues about end-of-life care and life-sustaining interventions in elderly, critically ill patients.

Update on management of invasive candidiasis.

Given the growing incidence of invasive candidiasis in critically ill and haemato-oncological patients and its poor outcomes, an early diagnosis and treatment are need for get a better prognosis. This document reviews the current ap-proaches that help in diagnosis of invasive candidiasis based on culture-independent microbiological tests. The combination of clinical prediction scores with fungal serological markers could facilitate the approach in antifungal therapy, optimiz-ing it. This article also reviews the epidemiology and primary risk factors for invasive candidiasis in these patients, updating the therapeutic approach algorithms in both clinical contexts based on the main evidence and international guidelines.

Antimicrobial management in nosocomial peritonitis: microbiota, drug and time.

Complicated intra-abdominal infection requires surgical treatment and broad-spectrum empiric antibiotic treatment used early. The rapid spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria has become a serious threat, especially in critical care units. The excessive use of carbapenems has led to carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, leaving tigecycline and colistin as therapeutical options. The new antimicrobials, ceftazidime-avibactam and ceftolozane-tazobactam open new horizons in the treatment of multi-drug resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Candida peritonitis causes a high mortality in the critical patient. Diagnosis and early treatment are associated with a better prognosis, the administration of an echinocandin being of choice in these patients.

Use of the cumulative sum method (CUSUM) to assess the learning curves of ultrasound-guided continuous femoral nerve block. / Método de suma acumulada (CUSUM) para evaluar las curvas de aprendizaje del bloqueo femoral continuo guiado por ecografía.

BACKGROUND: Although ultrasound is a basic competence for anaesthesia residents (AR) there is few data available on the learning process. This prospective observational study aims to assess the learning process of ultrasound-guided continuous femoral nerve block and to determine the number of procedures that a resident would need to perform in order to reach proficiency using the cumulative sum (CUSUM) method. METHODS: We recruited 19 AR without previous experience. Learning curves were constructed using the CUSUM method for ultrasound-guided continuous femoral nerve block considering 2 success criteria: a decrease of pain score>2 in a [0-10] scale after 15minutes, and time required to perform it. RESULTS: We analyse data from 17 AR for a total of 237 ultrasound-guided continuous femoral nerve blocks. 8/17 AR became proficient for pain relief, however all the AR who did more than 12 blocks (8/8) became proficient. As for time of performance 5/17 of AR achieved the objective of 12minutes, however all the AR who did more than 20 blocks (4/4) achieved it. CONCLUSIONS: The number of procedures needed to achieve proficiency seems to be 12, however it takes more procedures to reduce performance time. The CUSUM methodology could be useful in training programs to allow early interventions in case of repeated failures, and develop competence-based curriculum.

[Resistant gram-negative bacteria. Therapeutic approach and risk factors]. / Aproximación terapéutica empírica a la infección por gramnegativos resistentes. Valor de los factores de riesgo.

The rapid spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria has become a serious threat, especially in critical care units, thereby prolonging the hospital stay. Enterobacteriaceae have a high capacity to adapt to any environment. Plasmids are the reason behind their expansion. The choice of empiric therapy for intra-abdominal or urinary infections requires knowledge of the intrinsic microbiological variability of each hospital or critical care unit, as well as the source of infection, safety or antibiotic toxicity, interaction with other drugs, the dosage regimen and the presence of risk factors. Carbapenems are the drug of choice in the case of suspected infection by ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. The new ceftazidime/avibactam and ceftolozane/tazobactam drugs are opening up promising new horizons in the treatment of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

[Diagnostic and therapeutic approach of intraabdominal candidiasis]. / Aproximación diagnóstica y terapéutica a la candidiasis intraabdominal.

Invasive fungal disease is associated to a high mortality rate on critical ill patients. In the last decades an important epidemiological shift has been described. Early diagnosis and treatment are related with a better prognosis. The key factors lie in a set of predictive scores that allow to identify patients that will benefit of early treatment, as well as using diagnosis techniques that are culture independent. New diagnosis approximations are being developed with promising results: in situ hybridisation using PNA-FISH probes, MALDI-TOF MS and rapid nucleic acids detection assays. The use of echinocandin is recommended as antifungal therapy on critical ill patients with candida peritonitis.

Massive obstetric hemorrhage: Current approach to management. / Hemorragia masiva obstétrica: enfoque terapéutico actual.

Massive obstetric hemorrhage is a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide. It is defined (among others) as the loss of>2,500ml of blood, and is associated to a need for admission to critical care and/or hysterectomy. The relative hemodilution and high cardiac output found in normal pregnancy allows substantial bleeding before a drop in hemoglobin and/or hematocrit can be identified. Some comorbidities associated with pregnancy can contribute to the occurrence of catastrophic bleeding with consumption coagulopathy, which makes the situation even worse. Optimization, preparation, rational use of resources and protocolization of actions are often useful to improve outcomes in patients with postpartum hemorrhage. Using massive obstetric hemorrhage protocols is useful for facilitating rapid transfusion if needed, and can also be cost-effective. If hypofibrinogenemia during the bleeding episode is identified, early fibrinogen administration can be very useful. Other coagulation factors in addition to fibrinogen may be necessary during postpartum hemorrhage replacement measures in order to effectively correct coagulopathy. A hysterectomy is recommended if the medical and surgical measures prove ineffective.

Perioperative temperature control: Survey on current practices.

INTRODUCTION: Prevention of perioperative hypothermia decreases morbidity and mortality, as well as hospital costs. This study was conducted to evaluate the level of implementation of protocols in 3 tertiary Spanish University Hospitals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A survey among anaesthesiologists assessed estimated importance and clinical practice in terms of prevention of perioperative hypothermia. Results were compared depending on their experience. P<.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 116 anaesthesiologists answered the survey, of whom 48 (41.3%) were residents, 32 (27.6%) were staff with less than 10 years of experience, and 36 (31.1%) staff with 10 years or more of experience, In a 0-10 importance scale, prevention of hypothermia was scored 7.49±1,79, with no difference between groups (P=.58). Younger staff were more concerned of the end surgery temperature than other colleagues (P=.02). The most usual practice was a combination warming the intravenous fluids and an electric blanket (55%). Only 20% of the anaesthesiologists monitored temperature intra-operatively, even though 75% considered it an important parameter. No unit had a written protocol for prevention of perioperative hypothermia. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Despite the absence of prevention protocols, the anaesthesiologists were aware of the importance maintaining a normal peri-operative temperature, but this awareness is still not enough to influence their perioperative management to diagnose and prevent hypothermia. A harmonisation of practice at local, regional and national level could improve this practice in the future.

Severe cefepime-induced status epilepticus treated with haemofiltration.

Neurotoxicity caused by cefepime may occur predominantly in patients with impaired renal function. A case of a cefepime-induced non-convulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) is presented. A 65-year-old woman suffered a severe NCSE due to cefepime in the presence of acute renal failure, requiring coma induction with sodium thiopental. A serious interaction between valproic acid (VPA) and meropenem was also produced after changing cefepime to meropenem. Continuous veno-venous haemofiltration was employed to improve cefepime clearance, and the patient progressively regained her previous mental condition. In conclusion, the cefepime dose must be adjusted according to renal function in order to avoid toxicity in patients with renal failure. Electroencephalogram should be considered in cases of acute confusional state in patients receiving cefepime, to achieve early detection of NCSE. Continuous renal replacement therapy may be successfully employed in severe cases in order to accelerate cefepime removal. Likewise, meropenem should not be used concomitantly with VPA.

Location of the sciatic nerve at the popliteal fossa in the adult population: Relationship with gender and anthropometric data studied. Implications for daily practice.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the location of the sciatic nerve (SN) at the popliteal fossa is related to anthropometric variables in the adult population, and to identify possible anatomical variations and their possible implications for clinical practice. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Prospective observational study in elective ambulatory surgery patients. Patients were examined using ultrasound, looking at depth, laterality and distance at which the SN bifurcates at the level of the popliteal fossa. These measurements were linked to gender and the anthropometric data of the patients. RESULTS: A total of 62 patients were included, with 124 measurements. A statistically significant association was found between SN depth and the diameter of the thigh measured at 10 cm from the popliteal crease (P<.001). Mean depth: 3.32 ± 0.8 cm, mean laterality: 1.43 ± 0.9 cm, mean SN bifurcation distance: 61.78 ± 12 mm and mean SN diameter: 7.45 ± 1.17 mm. There were no statistical differences when comparing the measured variables with the age and gender. Similar results were obtained between measurements when comparing both lower limbs in the same patient. There was no statistical difference between height and distance at which the SN bifurcates. CONCLUSIONS: The depth and laterality of SN are independent of gender, weight and height. The depth at which the SN is located at the level of the popliteal fossa is related to the diameter of the thigh. The bifurcation of SN in popliteal fossa is not related to height.

[Septic shock due to a community acquired Clostridium difficile infection. A case study and a review of the literature]. / Shock séptico debido a la infección por Clostridium difficile adquirida en la comunidad. Estudio de un caso y revisión de la literatura.

The epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection has changed in the past decade. The incidence rate of community acquired cases has increased in patients with no typical risk factors. We present a patient who was diagnosed with community-acquired Clostridium difficile infection who presented with acute abdominal pain, and subsequently developed acute renal failure and septic shock. We describe the diagnosis, treatment and outcome and brief review of the literature.

[Iliac artery occlusion balloons for suspected placenta accreta during cesarean section]. / Inserción de balones intraarteriales ilíacos previa a la realización de cesárea ante la sospecha de acretismo placentario.

Massive obstetric hemorrhage still remains a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. The risk factors associated with this pathology must be identified in order to schedule the appropriate delivery with the necessary resources. A case is presented of an iliac artery occlusion with intravascular balloons for suspected placenta accreta during cesarean section. The perioperative treatment, as well as an analysis of the treatment options is described, along with their advantages and disadvantages, from the use of postpartum hemorrhage protocols, blood transfusion and procoagulant factors, and other maneuvers to control bleeding, until the hysterectomy.