Multimorbidity poses a global challenge to healthcare delivery. This study aimed to describe the prevalence of multimorbidity, common disease combinations and outcomes in a contemporary cohort of patients undergoing major abdominal surgery.

This month, Dr Maryann Turner is joined by Professor Kariem El-Boghdadly to discuss three papers from the June 2024 issue. Comparison of the success rate of tracheal intubation between stylet and bougie with a hyperangulated videolaryngoscope: a randomised controlled trial. The effect of a bundle intervention for ambulatory otorhinolaryngology procedures on same-day case cancellation rate and associated costs. Principles for management of hip fracture for older adults taking direct oral...

The Opioid PrEscRiptions and Usage After Surgery (OPERAS) study aimed to quantify the current global practice of opioid prescribing and consumption patterns in patients after discharge from common surgical procedures, and to identify factors associated with increased opioid consumption. It found that double the quantity of opioids patients consume in the post-discharge period are prescribed at discharge, exposing them to risk of opioid-related harm. Individualised opioid prescribing at...

Despite a lack of supporting evidence, airway management in patients with suspected or confirmed cervical spine injury is traditionally thought to increase the risk of worsening existing neurological deficits (secondary spinal cord injury) or risk of causing a new spinal cord injury (primary spinal cord injury). Although there has been evidence synthesis for specific elements of airway management in this setting, there has been little guidance to support clinical decision-making for airway...

While effective for acute pain control, recent pre-clinical evidence has raised concerns regarding an association between NSAIDs and chronic pain and potential opioid use. The objective of this paper was to explore the association between peri-operative use of prescription NSAIDs and the need for continued opioid prescriptions lasting 90–180 days in previously opioid-naïve patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Join Prof Ed Mariano and the authors to find out what the key messages are...

Gender inequity remains an issue in anaesthesia despite increasing numbers of women training and achieving fellowship in the speciality. Women are under-represented in all areas of anaesthetic research, academia and leadership. This podcast featuring Dr Seema Agarwal discusses two new qualitative papers on related topics. The first is an analysis of how gender affects a career in anaesthesia in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The second examines successful return to work in anaesthesia...

This month, Dr Maryann Turner takes the helm to discuss three papers from the May issue with Dr Mike Charlesworth. The first is a national prospective observational cohort study of risk factors for complications after emergency surgery for paediatric appendicitis. The second is a new Resuscitation Council UK algorithm for the emergency treatment of peri-operative anaphylaxis. The final paper is a ‘Reviewer Recommendations’ article about how to conduct and report guidelines and position, best...

The April issue contains lots of excellent clinically-orientated papers and this month, Associate Editor Dr Nicolai Bang Foss has chosen three that caught his eye. The first is a comparison of a new intravenous agent remimazolam vs. propofol for TIVA and we talk about depth of anaesthesia, hypotension and everything inbeteeen. The second is a new PQIP study modelling postoperative complications and their prediction. Finally, we talk about a standalone editorial on neuromuscular blockade and...

This month, all the main articles in the issue come from a special collection on sustainable healthcare, climate science and the anaesthetist. All papers are free to read, forever! Our Associate Editor, Dr Ben Gibbison, has chosen three of his favourite from the issue to discuss. These include an editorial on misconceptions about sustainable anaesthesia, a review of background science on global warming potentials and a comparison of the environmental impact of volatiles vs. TIVA in 50k patients.

There have been few large-scale, prospective cohort studies focusing on postoperative cardiovascular complications and their impact on postoperative mortality. This international prospective cohort study aimed to define the incidence and timing of these complications and to investigate their impact on 30-day all-cause mortality. The authors performed a prospective, international cohort study between January 2022 and May 2022. Data were collected on consecutive patients undergoing major...

Our new 2024 special supplement is now online! We have put together a collection of articles that are at the cutting edge of peri-operative science. Joining @GongGasGirl is Dame Julia Slingo, Miss Virginia Ledda and Ms Alifia Chakera.  Their articles cover climate science, carbon literacy and The Nitrous Oxide Project. This podcast was viewed by more than 10k on X, and now you can listen to the discussion here in full.

This month, we spoke with Anaesthesia Reports Editor Dr Susannah Patey from Manchester. She chose three great papers from the Anaesthesia February 2024 issue covering burnout, aerosols during CPR and prefilled syringes.  Get all your CPD for the month right here, on #TheAnaesthesiaPodcast!

Welcome to this month’s Anaesthesia Journal Podcast! We are delighted to be joined by Dr Criag Lyons, who is an Editor of Anaesthesia Reports. This month, we are going to be talking about three new papers from the January 2024 issue covering regional anaesthesia, videolaryngoscopy and statistics. Three core topics for all anaesthetists. Enjoy!

The third instalment of our NAP7 podcast series discusses the main results papers from the project. The first paper reports on epidemiology and clinical features of peri-operative cardiac arrests and the second on management and outcomes. 

Complications and critical incidents arising during anaesthesia due to patient, surgical or anaesthetic factors, may cause harm themselves or progress to more severe events, including cardiac arrest or death. As part of the 7th National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, the authors studied a prospective national cohort of unselected patients. Anaesthetists recorded anonymous details of all cases undertaken over 4 days at their site through an online survey. This new podcast...

There are two papers we are discussing today and they are the first in a series of results from probably the most important piece of peri-operative research from 2023 – NAP7! The first paper reports results from the local coordinator baseline survey. The second paper then looks at preparedness for and experiences of peri-operative cardiac arrest. The papers are rich with data and this interview aims to pick out key findings and discuss some of the associated clinical implications.

Today we are going to be talking about the December 2023 issue, which is online today! This issue is really exciting because it is the first to contain papers reporting results from NAP7. This will all be dealt with separately, so instead we are going to focus on other papers in the issue. And there is a lot to choose from: prehabilitation; pain assessment; dexmedetomidine; and dexamethasone. Joining us today all the way from Sheffield is one of our Journal Fellows Dr Paul Bramley. Here are...

This month, we discuss three important papers from the November 2023 issue with Professor Ed Mariano. A great way to get all your CPD for the month in just half an hour! 1. Is the future of nitrous oxide as volatile as the gas itself? https://associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/anae.160862. PROSPECT methodology for developing procedure-specific pain management recommendations: an update...

This month, we spoke with @GongGasGirl about her time at Annual Congress 2023, conferencing, whether or not desflurane should be banned, changes in trends on social media and MR opioids. The October issue is available now and contains lots of great papers with clinically relevant content. Enjoy!

Point-of-care gastric sonography offers an objective approach to assessing individual pulmonary aspiration risk before induction of general anaesthesia. This new paper aimed to evaluate the potential impact of routine pre-operative gastric ultrasound on peri-operative management in a cohort of adult patients undergoing elective or emergency surgery at a single centre. For this new podcast, Dr Eimear Keane speaks with the authors about how they did it, and the resultant key messages for...

Despite concerns and recommendations, modified-release opioids are still commonly used for the management of acute pain following total hip and knee arthroplasty. There is a need to compare modified-release and immediate-release opioid use following these procedures, and to determine whether the use of modified-release opioids is safe or harmful. The primary objective of this study was to examine the impact of modified-release opioid use on the incidence of opioid-related adverse drug events...

Neuraxial labour analgesia is a safe and effective method of pain relief. Following initiation of analgesia with epidural or combined spinal-epidural, this can be maintained with continuous epidural infusion, manual intermittent boluses, patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA), programmed intermittent epidural bolus (PIEB) or a combination of these. This new RCT finds that a PCEA high-volume bolus without a background infusion is not inferior to PIEB for maintenance of epidural labour...

Guidance for the timing of surgery following SARS-CoV-2 infection needed reassessment given widespread vaccination, less virulent variants, contemporary evidence and a need to increase access to safe surgery. This is the third iteration of consensus guidance around timing of surgery and risk assessment. Find out here why the update was required and what is new for 2023.

This new meta-analysis from Hansel et al. is a must read for all. Join Associate Editor Susannah Patey as she speaks with the authors about the key findings and clinical conclusions.