BACKGROUND AND AIMS The prevalence of religious faith among doctors and its relationship with decision-making in end-of-life care is not well documented. The impact of ethnic differences on this is also poorly understood. This study compares ethnicity and religious faith in the medical and general UK populations, and reports on their associations with ethically controversial decisions taken whe...

BACKGROUND This study compares prevalence and types of medical end-of-life decisions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities of Belgium. This is the first nationwide study that can make these comparisons and the first measurement after implementation of the euthanasia law (2002). METHODS We performed a mortality follow-back study in 2005-2006. Data were collected via the na...

BACKGROUND Mechanisms of anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness remain poorly understood. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging allows investigating whole-brain connectivity changes during pharmacological modulation of the level of consciousness. METHODS Low-frequency spontaneous blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations were measured in 19 healthy volunteers during wakefulnes...

BACKGROUND To study the relationship between endoscopic practice and adverse events during colonoscopy under standard deep sedation induced and monitored by an anesthetist. METHODS We investigated the routine activity of an endoscopy center at the Padova University teaching hospital. We considered not only endoscopic and cardiorespiratory complications, but also the need to use high-dose prop...

OBJECTIVE To explore the relation between the care provided in the final three months of life and the prevalence and types of end of life decisions in Belgium. Design Two year nationwide retrospective study, 2005-6 (SENTI-MELC study). SETTING Data collection via the sentinel network of general practitioners, an epidemiological surveillance system representative of all general practitioners in...

INTRODUCTION Procedural sedation refers to the technique of administering sedatives or dissociative agents with or without analgesics to induce an altered state of consciousness that allows the patient to tolerate unpleasant procedures while preserving cardiorespiratory function. Procedural sedation and analgesia is a core competency in emergency medicine and a daily part of emergency departmen...

This study evaluated the correlation and agreement between the Bispectral Index (BIS) or A-line Autoregressive Index (AAI) and a clinical scoring system, the Ramsay Sedation Scale (RSS), in 40 patients after elective cardiac surgery and admission to the intensive care unit. All patients received sedation with propofol according to the study protocol. BIS, AAI and RSS were documented at two diff...

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS General anesthesia is used for laparoscopic enteral access because pneumoperitoneum requires relaxation of the abdominal muscles. We wanted to determine whether these procedures could be performed with similar results and cost under local anesthesia. DESIGN Randomized controlled study with 30-day follow-up including a cost-benefit analysis. SETTING University-affil...

OBJECTIVES To describe the rationale, design and methodology for a trial of three novel interventions developed to improve sedation-analgesia quality in adult intensive care units (ICUs). PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING 8 clusters, each a Scottish ICU. All mechanically ventilated sedated patients were potentially eligible for inclusion in data analysis. DESIGN Cluster randomised design in 8 ICUs, ...