BACKGROUND Board certification is often used as a surrogate indicator of provider competence, although few outcome studies have demonstrated its validity. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of patients who underwent surgical procedures under the care of an anesthesiologist with or without board certification. METHODS Medicare claims records for 144,883 patients in Pennsylvania ...

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy is a widely performed procedure that is generally considered to be safe. The first performed bronchoscopy was done by Gustav Killian in 1897; however, the development of flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy was accomplished by Ikeda in 1964(1). Flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy is a key diagnostic and therapeutic procedure(2). It is estimated that more than 500,000 of these p...

such cases, we sometimes found it difficult to exactly fit the ventilation slot to the orifice of the upper bronchus. However, in most cases we could maintain adequate oxygenation and ventilation beyond all expectations. Thus, exact matching of the ventilation slot to the orifice of the upper bronchus is not always required to obtain proper oxygenation and ventilation. If an exact match was req...

alcohol use poses a variety of health complications. because alcohol consumption in the days prior to surgery can induce lower blood pressure, the anesthesiologist will need to monitor blood pressure very closely during surgery to prevent hypotension. before surgery, it is important for anesthesiologist to be aware about the amount and timing of recent alcohol consumption. less anesthesia shoul...

BACKGROUND The authors used continuous quality improvement (CQI) program data to investigate trends in quality of anesthesia care associated with changing staffing patterns in a university hospital. METHODS The monthly proportion of cases performed by solo attending anesthesiologists versus attending-resident teams or attending-certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) teams was used to m...