If you wish to respond to a paper or other item already published in the BJA, please go to the abstract/full text version of that item and click on the link "E-Letters: Submit a response to the article".
Electronic Letters to:
|
|
E-letters: Electronic letters published:
-
![[Read E-letter]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
awareness of awareness
- santhosh gopalakrishnan (10 November 2008)
|
|
|||
|
santhosh gopalakrishnan, specialist registrar , anaesthetics
Send letter to journal:
|
Dear Sir Awareness during anaesthesia has been a topic of discussion, due to the trauma it can cause to the patient and due to the number of new equipments, which are available in the market, to help anaesthetists counter this problem. I always read with interest any study or correspondence made in this regard. I am always amused, when a new equipment to monitor awareness, is tested in our hospital, and try to get as much hands on practice as I can. I have become increasingly sceptic, about awareness monitoring devices, due to the lack of its routine use. I have worked in the United Kingdom for five years. In these five years, I have worked with only a handful of colleagues, who use any form of awareness monitoring, inspite of extensive studies in the field of awareness. My questions to Drs J. R. Sneyd and D. M. Mathews are: a) Do we have a good and reliable equipment to monitor awareness? b) If so, why are these monitoring devices not used in everyday practice? c) What is our legal standing now if we don’t use any form of awareness monitoring? d) Why has the excellent clinical work done by you and your colleagues not filtered into everyday practice? e) Does awareness monitoring ,especially BIS ,have a role in routine anaesthetic practice?1 References 1. Avidan MS, Zhang L, Burnside BA, Finkel KJ, Searleman AC, Selvidge JA, Saager L, Turner MS, Rao S, Bottros M, Hantler C, Jacobsohn E, Evers AS. Anesthesia awareness and the bispectral index. N Engl J Med. 2008 Mar 13;358(11):1189-91. Conflict of Interest:None declared |
|||