Blog 18: Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

How does an anesthesiologist best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

An anesthesiologist can best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery by being well-versed on the drugs used for surgery to maintain body functions.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

An anesthesiologist can best ensure a patient's safety and comfort for surgery by monitoring a patient's vital body functions through use and full knowledge of anesthesia machines.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

Answer 1:

• Knowing the drugs and what they do
• Anesthesiologists have to be experts in pharmacology. There are a wide range of drugs that anesthesiologists use to maintain a patient's body functions. For example, in order to render a patient unconscious, they use a sedative, like Propofol. To paralyze the muscles, they use a muscle relaxant, and a reversal drug as well. They use a large selection of narcotics to rid of pain before, during, and after surgery. Additionally, these medications have side effects, such as raising and lowering blood pressure. There are drugs to combat this as well.
• Making a patient comfortable through use of drugs
• Throughout the process of undergoing surgery, patients are often experience anxiety or fear. With the aid of drugs, anesthesiologists can ensure that patients will be relaxed before even entering the operating room. For example, Midazolam is a drug that is given before surgery to calm a patient. It also causes temporary amnesia, making the patient not remember anything that happens in the operating room.
• Labeling of syringes
• Anesthesiologists are sure to label their syringes for sake of patient safety. There have been studies showing that the labeling of syringes has greatly improved patient care, as it is less likely for there to be a faulty drug given to the patient. Most medications are clear fluids, so labeling them is a key factor to patient safety. Drugs are categorized by type, like narcotics are colored a light blue, hypnotic drugs are yellow, muscle relaxants are bright red, etc.

Answer 2:

• Wide array of machines
• There is a wide array of machinery that is used during surgery for monitoring the main body functions of a patient. For example, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen level, CO2 level, other gas levels, and even brain waves are all monitored. Each monitor gives readings that cannot be observed otherwise. Additionally, new and improved technologies are produced every year with more technologically advanced machinery. In fact, my mentor has told me that anesthesiology is one of the fastest improving medical field in patient safety.
• Provides a warning before things go wrong
• In turn, with advanced machinery screening a patient throughout a surgery, this increases a patient's safety. Simply having all the equipment is not enough. Anesthesiologists have to be diligent and pay attention to the monitor readings. By watching the monitors, anesthesiologists can tell beforehand if a muscle relaxant is starting to wear off or if a patient is having trouble breathing.
• Recording monitor readings throughout surgery
• Every surgery I've observed, I have seen the anesthesiologist record important monitor readings at certain time intervals throughout procedures. This is not only to show that the anesthesiologist was paying attention to monitors during surgery, but also to show that the patient was comfortable. The monitors would show if the patient was not able to breath or was in an unstable condition. Thus, keeping record of how the patient was doing as the procedure progresses can have an effect on safety and overall comfort.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

Sources located in Working Bibliography

Answer 1: Sources 37b

Horton, Charles. "Better Living Through Chemistry." Chapter. Anesthesia Crash Course. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. 27-45. Print.

Answer 2: Sources 21

Subrahmanyam, M., and S. Mohan. "Safety Features in Anaesthesia Machine." Indian Journal of Anaesthesia. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3821264/>

6.  What other source supports your answer?

Sources located in Working Bibliography

Answer 1: Sources 3b, 8, 15, 33, 36, 37b, 42
Answer 2: Sources 1, 21, 24, 37a, 46

7.  Tie this together with a  concluding thought.

With anesthesiology being one of the fastest improving medical fields, safety and comfort are the main focus. Every year, there are better, more advanced machines and techniques that are discovered. But the main ways in which anesthesiologists ensure that their patients are safe and comfortable are through monitoring of machines and being well-versed in the medications used in surgery. I have seen these methods used many times while at mentorship. Implementing these factors plays a role in possibly saving a person's life.