Balanced Anaesthesia Flashcards
What is Balanced Anaesthesia?
Achieving desired anaesthetic affects by using multiple drugs allowing for reduced doses of individual drugs to reduce adverse side effects of each individual drug
What is general anaesthesia?
Total lack of sensations - completely unconscious
What is local anaesthesia?
Lack of sensation in a localised part of the body
What types of anaesthetic agents are there?
Regional
Inhalational
Intravenous
How does regional anaesthesia work?
Blocks pain signals from specific parts of the body from getting to the brain
Bind to proteins in neuronal cell membranes inhibiting entry of +ve particles
Example - Cocaine
How does inhalational anaesthesia work?
Works on entire NS
Supplemented with IV anaesthesia
Example - nitrous oxide, sevoflurane
How does IV anaesthesia work?
Induce unconsciousness and reduce pain
Example - propofol
What is required for an anaesthetic agent?
Muscle relaxation
Unconsciousness
Analgesia
Immobilisation
Amnesia
Sedation
Narcosis
Tranquillisation
Hypnosis
What are the anaesthetic events?
Induction
Maintenance
Recovery
What are the steps to think about before using anaesthesia?
1 - Know your patient
2 - Know your procedure
3 - Know your drugs
Know your patient
Thorough examination
Good understanding of health status
Consider temperament
Know procedure
Understand what is involved in the procedure they are being anaesthetised for
Duration
Anticipated pain
Anticipated complications
Know your drugs
- Why I am choosing this drug? What benefits will it bring to this process?
- What are the side effects?
- What will I do if the side effects become a problem?
- What species is this drug licensed for?
- What routes can it be given by?
- What is the onset time?
- What is the duration of effect?
- Can the drug be antagonised? What with?
- Can the drug be “topped up”?
- If the effects are not sufficient, what’s my back up plan?
