[Comparison of current critical care information systems from the perspective of clinical users : Summary of the results of a German nationwide survey]. / Vergleich aktueller Patientendatenmanagementsysteme in der Intensivmedizin aus Sicht der klinischen Nutzer : Zusammenfassung der Ergebnisse einer deutschlandweiten Umfrage.

BACKGROUND: Critical care information systems (CCIS) are computer-based systems designed to process the growing amount of complex medical data in intensive care units (ICU). Previous studies have shown that CCICs can increase the quality of patient care by reducing errors and improving work efficiency; however, other studies have shown that CCISs can also cause harmful effects by disrupting workflow, facilitating medication errors or increasing charting time. The factors that decide whether a CCIS has a positive or negative impact on patient care are summarized under the term "usability". This article summarizes the results of three previously published papers on this topic. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to identify which CCIS functions were considered useful by clinical ICU staff and how well these functions are implemented in the CCISs currently used in German ICUs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An online survey was performed targeting nurses and physicians working in German ICUs using a previously validated questionnaire. The questionnaire included a list of functions (36 for physicians/31 for nurses) that were preselected by experts based on a comprehensive model of ICU work processes. Each of these functions was rated by the study participants on a Likert scale ranging from 0 (worst rating) to 5 (best rating) with respect to the usefulness to identify which functions of CCIS can truly be considered as useful by clinical ICU staff. Furthermore, the participants rated how well these functions were implemented in the CCIS currently in use on the ICU, also using a Likert scale of 0-5. Further questions were provided to rate specific technical usability aspects of the CCISs currently in use. In addition, to capture possible confounders the questionnaire recorded 18 individual and workspace characteristics which might influence the ratings. RESULTS: A total of 171 nurses and 741 physicians participated in the survey of which 535 used CCISs. Of the functions 33 were rated as useful for doctors and 28 functions for nurses with median scores between 4 and 5. Participants currently using CCISs gave higher ratings compared to participants not using CCISs. The quality of the functions was rated relatively lower than the usefulness and the availability. Furthermore, currently used CCISs in Germany differ greatly in their technical and task-specific usability. Of the CCISs investigated, the system ICUData had the best overall rating and technical usability followed by the systems ICM and MetaVision. The same three CCIS were rated best in task-specific functions without significant differences between them. CONCLUSION: Those functions that were identified as useful based on the ratings of clinical ICU staff should be implemented in current CCIS. The list of these functions might be regarded as a first step towards providing a catalog of functional requirements for CCISs. Furthermore, as the results show that the quality of the available functions was rated lower than the availability of the functions, manufacturers should shift more of the effort away from the development of new features and focus on improving the user-friendliness and quality of existing functions.

Nociceptive activation in spinal cord and brain persists during deep general anaesthesia.

BACKGROUND: In clinical practice, analgesic drug doses applied during general anaesthesia are considered sufficient when clinical responses (e.g. movement, blood pressure and heart rate elevations) are suppressed during noxious stimulation. We investigated whether absent clinical responses are indicative of suppressed spinal and brain responsiveness to noxious stimulation in anaesthetised subjects. METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers were investigated during deep propofol anaesthesia supplemented with increasing doses of remifentanil in a stepwise manner. Noxious electrical stimuli at an intensity comparable with surgical stimulation were repeatedly administered at each targeted remifentanil concentration. During stimulation, we monitored both clinical responses (blood pressure, heart rate, and movement) and neuronal responses. Neuronal responses were assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging, spinal reflex responses, and somatosensory evoked potentials. RESULTS: This monitoring combination was able to faithfully detect brain and spinal neuronal responses to the noxious stimulation. Although clinical responses were no longer detected at analgesic dosages similar to those used for general anaesthesia in clinical practice, spinal and brain neuronal responses were consistently observed. Opioid doses that are significantly larger than is usually used in clinical practice only reduced neuronal responses to 41% of their maximal response. CONCLUSIONS: Nociceptive activation persists during deep general anaesthesia despite abolished clinical responses. Absent clinical responses are therefore not indicative of absent nociception-specific activation. Thus, commonly accepted clinical responses might be inadequate surrogate markers to assess anti-nociception during general anaesthesia. Further research is required to investigate whether persistent nociception causes adverse effects on patient outcome.

Higher doses of intraoperative analgesia are associated with lower levels of persistent pain and less analgesic consumption six months after total hip arthroplasty.

BACKGROUND: Persistent postoperative pain is a major health problem affecting nearly 30% of all patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty. Previous studies have demonstrated an association between the intensity of acute postoperative pain and persistent pain, but this association might be an epiphenomenon of insufficient intraoperative analgesia. In this study, we investigated the association between the intraoperative level of analgesia and the persistent postoperative pain 6 months after surgery. METHODS: We investigated 110 patients undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty under total intravenous general anaesthesia in a prospective cohort study. A highly standardized surgical and a standardized anaesthetic procedure were performed to reduce variability and psychosocial influences were investigated to adjust for confounders. Acute postoperative pain was controlled using patient-controlled analgesia pumps. Postoperative pain intensities and analgesic requirements were monitored for 6 months following surgery. RESULTS: Of 105 patients included in the analysis, 32% continued using daily pain medication 6 months after surgery and reported a median pain level of 4/10. Multivariate analyses confirmed that the amount of intraoperative analgesia is a significant predictor of regular analgesic use and pain intensity 6 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of intraoperative analgesia are associated with lower levels of persistent pain and less analgesic consumption 6 months after total hip arthroplasty. Persistent pain may be attributable to intraoperative nociception, which is likely not adequately assessed and suppressed using current clinical measures. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study suggests that lower doses of intraoperative analgesia are associated with higher levels of persistent postoperative pain. Persistent pain may be caused by intraoperative nociception, which is likely not adequately suppressed using current clinical standard analgesic measures.

Electroencephalogram dynamics in children during different levels of anaesthetic depth.

OBJECTIVE: Anaesthesia-induced dynamics in EEG are dependent on age and level of anaesthesia, but distinct characterisation in children is incomplete. Here we analyse EEG dynamics in children related to age and level of anaesthesia. METHODS: Frontal EEG recordings were obtained from 93 children (0-19years) during routine clinical anaesthesia. EEG segments were selected at four different levels of anaesthesia: emergence, light anaesthesia, deep anaesthesia, and very deep anaesthesia. RESULTS: Total power differed significantly over age at deep (R2=0.314; p<0.0001) and very deep anaesthesia (R2=0.403; p<0.0001). Relative beta band power at light anaesthesia increased linearly with age (R2=0.239; p<0.0001). Level of anaesthesia caused significant differences for relative delta band power (increasing with anaesthetic depth), for relative beta band power and for spectral edge frequency (decreasing with anaesthetic depth) for all children (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: EEG parameterin children were primary dependent on anaesthetic depth, where beta band power, delta band power and spectral edge frequency showed a linear relation. Age-dependency during anaesthesia procedure were only seen for single EEG parameters. SIGNIFICANCE: Different levels of anaesthesia can be identified by relative beta band power, relative delta band power and spectral edge frequency irrespective of the children's age.