Tag: OSA

3 New Clinical Guidelines To Take Note of

Editor’s note: In this week’s must reads, we look at 3 new clinical guidelines and consider their impact on patient care.

Guideline for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

The newly released “Guideline for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation” is a game changer for the use of anticoagulants. In a report by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society, in Collaboration With the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, newer anticoagulants, known as non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs), are recommended over the traditional warfarin to prevent stroke in people with atrial fibrillation (AFib).

Continue reading “3 New Clinical Guidelines To Take Note of” →

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (October 21, 2016)

This week in patient safety news, we featured a guest post article on pre-op screening and assessment for OSA. We also found some great articles addressing the ICU, the opioid crisis, and the latest in wearable monitor studies. Continue reading “Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (October 21, 2016)” →

New Guideline on Pre-Op Screening and Assessment for OSA

This article was first published in Patient Safety Solutions on October 11, 2016. As part of our efforts to bring in expert viewpoints from across the #patientsafety community, we have reposted this with permission.

By Bradley T. Traux, MD

Our regular readers are well aware of the numerous controversies and limited evidence base regarding perioperative issues in patients with known obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or those suspected as being at high risk for OSA (see the list of prior columns at the end of today’s column).

The Society of Anesthesia and Sleep Medicine has just published “Guidelines on Preoperative Screening and Assessment of Adult Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea”. This is a most thorough evaluation of the evidence base regarding multiple issues related to OSA in patients about to undergo surgery. One is struck by the lack of strong evidence for almost all the recommendations in the guideline, though we are not surprised since we’ve previously discussed most of the controversial issues. Yet this consensus guideline uses common sense and is very practical and appropriately balances concerns for patient safety with utilization of resources and concerns over timing of surgery.

Below is their executive summary of the recommendations: Continue reading “New Guideline on Pre-Op Screening and Assessment for OSA” →

3 Keys To Successfully Implementing Capnography

capnography-waveform — Source: CapnoAcademy.com

As a follow-up to our latest podcast interview with Thomas W. Frederickson, MD, FACP, SFHM, MBA – lead author of the Society of Hospital Medicine RADEO guide (“Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids”) – we focused on the advantages and limitations of pulse oximetry in monitoring patients for opioid-induced respiratory depression.

Most importantly, Dr. Frederickson highlighted that the alerts provided by pulse oximetry can be a lagging indicator of patient ventilation, particularly when supplemental oxygen is administered. One solution to improving the care provided to patients is to understand that pulse oximetry is one part of a comprehensive monitoring strategy. Continue reading “3 Keys To Successfully Implementing Capnography” →

3 Limitations to the Use of Pulse Oximetry

Image source: http://thedoctorweighsin.com/pulse-oximetry-false-alarms-on-post-surgical-floors/ — *Image source.*

In PPAHS’ latest podcast, we spoke with Thomas W. Frederickson, MD, FACP, SFHM, MBA – lead author of the Society of Hospital Medicine RADEO guide (“Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids”). The RADEO guide is a comprehensive clinician manual created with the aim to decrease opioid-related adverse events in an inpatient setting. Continue reading “3 Limitations to the Use of Pulse Oximetry” →

5 Strategies to Keep Patients Safe When Receiving Opioids

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) had the pleasure of interviewing Thomas W. Frederickson, MD, FACP, SFHM, MBA – lead author of the Society of Hospital Medicine RADEO guide (“Reducing Adverse Drug Events Related to Opioids”). The guide is a comprehensive clinician manual created with the aim to decrease opioid-related adverse events in an inpatient setting.

In the first of this two-part interview, Dr. Frederickson discusses five key steps to identify and address patient conditions that pose a greater risk of respiratory depression. For readers that have yet to listen to the podcast, please click here; it’s an insightful interview relevant for any clinician working in quality improvement or directly with patients prescribed opioids.

In part two, interviewer Pat Iyer and Dr. Frederickson switches gears and focuses on monitoring issues associated with caring for at-risk patients. You can watch/listen to the interview below: Continue reading “5 Strategies to Keep Patients Safe When Receiving Opioids” →

5 Key Resources to Reduce the Risk of Respiratory Compromise with Patients with Sleep Apnea

In a recent interview with a spotlight on the RADEO guide, Dr. Thomas Frederickson, MD, FACP, SFHM, MBA highlighted obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as a key contributing condition to greater opioid use risk.

“Sleep apnea is the number one risk factor for respiratory depression associated with the use of opioids.

[…] Patients with obstructive sleep apnea are dependent upon their arousal mechanism in order to avoid respiratory depression and eventual respiratory failure.”

In addition to being the #1 contributing risk to opioid-induced respiratory depression, OSA is also common and often under diagnosed. Dr. Frederickson states that between 7% and 22% of the adult population has a degree of sleep apnea.

The key question that arises, then, is how to better identify and account for OSA in patients receiving opioids? Here are 5 key resources to reduce the risk of respiratory compromise in this group. Continue reading “5 Key Resources to Reduce the Risk of Respiratory Compromise with Patients with Sleep Apnea” →

Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety and Health Care (July 31, 2015)

On our 4th Anniversary, we thought it very fitting that the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety begin our first public appeal for funds to help us continue with our mission to improve patient safety and health care (thank you for your tweets of support – @ADR_Rocks, @lzipperer, @BioAlliances, @PatientPro1st, @ehealthmgmt).

Help us ensure all patients receiving opioids are monitored. Choose your donation amount.

Help us ensure all patients receiving #opioids are monitored #ptsafety http://bit.ly/1JRzCvY Click To Tweet

The anniversary of Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety on July 27 will always be greeted with mixed emotions – both celebration and sadness (a shout out to those who tweeted well wishes – @Bi3PtSafety, @GetOnTopWithUs, @cardiovasc_bio, @BioAlliances, @GeratorTrdplc). Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety and Health Care (July 31, 2015)” →

Computer Decision Support Alerts Help Identify Patients with Previously Diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Say Researchers

By Sean Power (Community Manager, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Patients are admitted to some hospitals with an unreported previous diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

That might be about to change thanks to computer decision support alerts, according to R. Scott Evans, PhD, and a team of researchers at Intermountain Medical Center, a 456-bed teaching hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Continue reading “Computer Decision Support Alerts Help Identify Patients with Previously Diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Say Researchers” →