Teaching Medical Students Clinical Anesthesia.

There are many reasons for evaluating our approach and improving our teaching of America's future doctors, whether they become anesthesiologists (recruitment) or participate in patient management in the perioperative period (general patient care). Teaching medical students the seminal aspects of any medical specialty is a continual challenge. Although no definitive curricula or single clinical approach has been defined, certain key features can be ascertained from clinical experience and the literature. A survey was conducted among US anesthesiology teaching programs regarding the teaching content and approaches currently used to teach US medical students clinical anesthesia. Using the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education website that lists 133 accredited anesthesiology programs, residency directors were contacted via e-mail. Based on those responses and follow-up phone calls, teaching representatives from 125 anesthesiology departments were identified and asked via e-mail to complete a survey. The survey was returned by 85 programs, yielding a response rate of 68% of individuals contacted and 63% of all departments. Ninety-one percent of the responding departments teach medical students, most in the final 2 years of medical school. Medical student exposure to clinical anesthesia occurred as elective only at 42% of the institutions, was requirement only at 16% of responding institutions, and the remainder had both elective and required courses. Anesthesiology faculty at 43% of the responding institutions reported teaching in the preclinical years of medical school, primarily in the departments of pharmacology and physiology. Forty-five percent of programs reported interdisciplinary teaching with other departments teaching classes such as gross anatomy. There is little exposure of anesthesiology faculty to medical students in other general courses. Teaching in the operating room is the primary teaching method in the clinical years. Students are allowed full access to patient care, including performing history and physical examinations, participating in the insertion of IVs and airway management. Simulation-based teaching was used by 82% of programs during medical student anesthesia clerkships. Sixty-eight percent of respondents reported that they have no formal training for their anesthesiology faculty teachers, 51% stated that they do not receive nonclinical time to teach, and 38% of respondents stated that they received some form of remuneration for teaching medical students, primarily nonclinical time. This article presents a summary of these survey results, provides a historical review of previous evaluations of teaching medical students clinical anesthesia, and discusses the contributions of anesthesiologists to medical student education.

Role-modelling in the operating room: medical student observations of exemplary behaviour.

CONTEXT: Training future doctors to develop an appropriate professional persona is an important goal of medical student education and residency training. Most medical education research paradigms on professionalism have focused largely on lapses (e.g. yelling as an example of communication failure) and tend to emphasise behaviour that should be avoided. The assumption is that, if left unchecked, students will see these negative behaviours exhibited by their role models and possibly emulate them, allowing the potential reinforcement of the inappropriate behaviours. OBJECTIVES: Identifying and characterising exemplary, or positive, behaviours can be similarly valuable to both medical students and residents as tangible examples of behaviours to strive towards. The goal of the present research was to determine and thematically define the exemplary professional actions that medical students observe in the intense and patient-focused environment of the operating room (OR). METHODS: Using qualitative methodology of content analysis and theme identification, we systematically documented the type of exemplary professional behaviours reported by medical students (n=263) when observing health care teams on an anaesthesia rotation in the OR. RESULTS: The analysis generated a taxonomy of exemplary OR behaviour that included six overarching themes (e.g. teamwork), 15 sub-themes (e.g. collegial) and numerous exemplars (e.g. showed mutual respect). These themes and sub-themes were then conceptually 'matched'--through the use of antonyms --to complement an existing framework focused on medical student reports of professional lapses witnessed during medical school. CONCLUSIONS: Year 3 medical students in the USA reported observing very positive, exemplary health care provider interactions that were diverse in focus. Themes were identified regarding the OR team members' interactions with patients (calm, communication, comforting), with one another (teamwork, respect) and with the medical students (teaching). This classification of exemplary OR behaviour contributes to our understanding of how professional behaviour is viewed and potentially emulated by medical students on surgical rotations.

Use of the Synera patch for local anesthesia before vascular access procedures: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, paired study compared the Synera patch, a drug delivery device comprised of an eutectic mixture of lidocaine (70 mg) and tetracaine (70 mg) whose onset is accelerated by a controlled heating device, with placebo. The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of Synera in inducing local anesthesia before a vascular access procedure. DESIGN: Before the vascular access procedures, adult volunteers randomly received a concurrent application of Synera and placebo to the right and left antecubital surfaces. Forty subjects received 20-minute treatments. After each vascular access procedure, efficacy evaluations were completed by the subject, investigator, and an independent observer. Median subject-reported pain intensity, using the visual analog scale scores (VAS, 0-100 mm scale) were significantly lower for Synera than placebo (5 mm vs 28 mm, P < 0.001). RESULTS: Compared with placebo, more subjects reported adequate anesthesia following Synera (73% vs 31%, P = 0.002), and more subjects indicated they would use Synera again (70% vs 33%, P = 0.006). Investigators rated more subjects having no pain with Synera compared with placebo (63% vs 33%, P = 0.021), and more subjects having adequate anesthesia with Synera (60% vs 23%, P = 0.004). Independent observers rated 68% of subjects having no pain with Synera compared with 38% with placebo (P = 0.015). Side-effects were limited to localized pruritus and erythema. Erythema was more common with Synera than placebo (62% vs 42%, P = 0.018). CONCLUSIONS: A 20-minute application of Synera consistently provided clinically useful anesthesia for vascular access procedures, and appears to be well suited for topical dermal anesthesia due to its reduced time required to produce adequate anesthesia and high subject and investigator acceptance.

Pulse oximeter changes with sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer.

HYPOTHESIS: The changes reported with pulse oximetry after the injection of isosulfan blue for sentinel lymph node identification in patients with breast cancer are consistent and predictable. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The complete anesthesia records of 92 patients who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy with intraparenchymal injection of isosulfan blue were reviewed. The study extended from January 1999 to February 2000. The operations were all performed after the patient received general anesthesia. We injected 5 mL of isosulfan blue into the breast tissue surrounding the tumor. The data reviewed included preinjection pulse oximeter saturation readings and postinjection values continuing until the readings returned to baseline levels in the postanesthesia care unit. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in oxygen saturation readings with the pulse oximeter before and after injection of isosulfan blue. RESULTS: Isosulfan blue injection interfered with pulse oximeter measurements for a substantial time-as much as 195 minutes. The mean time to the maximum change in the pulse oximeter reading was 35 minutes. The median decrease in oxygen saturation was 5%. The maximum decrease in the pulse oximeter reading was 11%. CONCLUSIONS: Although the changes in pulse oximeter readings can be substantial, their course appears to be predictable, and therefore in most otherwise healthy patients with normal pulmonary function, invasive monitoring is not necessary.