Sleep Test Required Before Surgery

[roster]

I don't get the impression, however, that CPAP is normally used in the PACU for patients coming out of general anesthesia. I could be wrong, though. My experience is all from the odd perspective of seeing cases in which something went radically wrong.

My personal experience with two surgeries under general anesthesia is the same. The recovery room attendant was aware of my condition and my CPAP bag was with me. In each case it went unused. Each time they had me resting on an incline and closely monitoring my breathing, heart rate, and BP. In one of the surgeries, the attendant told me he "jiggled" me a few times to keep me breathing.

Whatever they did, I felt fine after the surgeries to the point I felt sure any breathing problems were kept to a minimum.

The CPAP would have been used only if an overnight stay was required.

BTW, Obamacare prohibits jiggling.

[roster]

If you want to see a hospital doing a great job for diagnosed and undiagnosed apneics, have a look at this:

At admission, staffers now ask all patients if they have already been diagnosed with sleep apnea, and those who answer yes are given continuous positive airway pressure masks to aid their breathing during their stay at the hospital.

In addition, patients who have not been diagnosed with the condition are asked a series of questions to determine if they are at risk for developing it. When patients answer yes to more than three of the questions, the hospital's electronic medical record automatically opens a sleep apnea prevention patient care plan, which is sent directly to the patient's nursing unit. So far, roughly 40 percent of adult patients are screening positive for sleep apnea susceptibility, according to Daniel Picchietti, M.D., a board-certified sleep medicine physician at Carle Foundation Hospital.

"That's a huge number of patients at risk," Picchietti says.

http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag_app/jsp/ar ... ain=HHNMAG

[debo415]

I am one of those chronic snoring patients who went into surgery without knowledge of my sleep apnea. After being moved to recovery, I was given meds for pain and as they pushed the drugs into my IV, I stopped breathing. After they gave me NarCan and restored my breathing, a Cpap machine was brought into the picture to help sustain me. After learning of my recovery room experience, my anesthesiologist suggested to my husband that I get tested for sleep apnea. Apparently my oxygen levels had been rather low during surgery. I got tested and was diagnosed with Severe OSA....

I have to say that it disheartens me when I see members of this board constantly suggest that medical professionals only do things "for the money". As the wife of a physician, I know first hand that it is far from the truth. Sometimes we simply need to put a little faith in the people who are in medicine to make a difference and accept that they have studied so very hard for so many years to learn things we, as laypeople, will never understand. That doesn't mean we don't need to be informed ourselves, but we have to remember that it takes far more than learning to read a little data to fully understand the workings of the human body.

[roster]

I have to say that it disheartens me when I see members of this board constantly suggest that medical professionals only do things "for the money". As the wife of a physician, I know first hand that it is far from the truth.

I am very critical of doctors and the medical profession for having a "blind spot" to SBD. However, I agree that 97+% of doctors want to practice good medicine and make the best decisions for their patients. There is nothing wrong with them wanting to make good money while doing this. In fact, it is a good thing for everyone if doctors do well financially.

Just remember, it does not matter what the subject is, on internet forums criticism rules. My wife and I were just looking at a football forum for one of our favorite college teams. Members are severely criticizing two stars who are four-year starters who took the team to three bowl games and have just started the year leading the conference in stats after three games. Go figure.