Hypnotic Anaesthesia Created Through Numbness

AnaesthesiaCreating numbness through hypnosis can be an invaluable method which may be used instead of anaesthesia. For the therapist to actually create numbness in a limb, say an arm, he or she would have to suggest an unconscious response to numbness by saying the following sort of things.

“It’s Winter. Supposing you’re a young child and you’ve gone out to play in all the snow. What’s it like making snowballs to throw at your friends and perhaps making a snowman.

“Pretty soon, those hands begin to feel somehow different.. just dangling on the end of your arms, as if they’re just objects which have no relation to you..

“and tying a shoelace with those numb, ice-cold hands becomes so drawn out and awkward.. even when you try to turn a key in a lock..

“and finding a hand that’s becoming more and more numb”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Anaesthesia Errors and Why They Occur

AnaesthesiaWe often perceive that the most dangerous stage of surgery is the procedure itself. Many of us who undergo surgery fear the process. More often than not, we do not realize that sometimes the anaesthesia used during the operation is the hazardous stage of the process. It has been observed that anaesthesia errors or mistakes in its administration take place in a lot of our hospital operating rooms, a horrible truth that most of us do not have knowledge of until it takes the life of a friend or a loved one.

On the other hand, the use of anaesthesia is very significant as its introduction in the medical world has made life saving surgeries possible. Today, surgery is next to impossible if surgeons do not use this medical wonder. Further, people prefer anaesthesia to alleviate the pain of undergoing surgery.

Be that as it may, anaesthesia errors or mistakes still happen. But why do anaesthesia errors occur? Let us see the top three reasons why these happen.

First reason is poor communication between staff members in the hospital. This poor communication could be ascribed to personal conflicts, faulty procedures of technicians in dealing with anaesthesia and even fatigue. Oftentimes, errors in documenting the patient’s age and weight, medical history and past reactions to anaesthesia result in anaesthesia error. Read the rest of this entry »

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Anaesthetic Machine

Anaesthetic MachineComponents of a typical machine

Simple schematic of an anaesthesia machine

A modern machine typically includes the following components:

connections to piped hospital oxygen, medical air, and nitrous oxide. Pipeline pressure from the hospital medical gas system (wall outlet) should be around 400 kPa (60 psi; 4 atmospheres).

reserve gas cylinders of oxygen, air, and nitrous oxide attached via a specific yoke with a Bodok seal. Older machines may have cylinder yokes and flow meters for carbon dioxide and cyclopropane. Many newer machines only have oxygen reserve cylinders. The regulators for the cylinders are set at 300 kPa (45 psi; 3 atmospheres). If the cylinders are left on and the machine is plugged into the wall outlet, gas from the wall supply will be used preferentially, since it is at a higher pressure. In situations where pipeline gases are not available, machines may safely be used from cylinders alone, provided fresh cylinders are available.

a high-flow oxygen flush which provides pure oxygen at 30 litres/minute

pressure gauges, regulators and ‘pop-off’ valves, to protect the machine components and patient from high-pressure gases (referred to as ‘barotrauma’).

flow meters (rotameters) for oxygen, air, and nitrous oxide, which are used by the anaesthesiologist to provide accurate mixtures of medical gases to the patient. Flow meters are typically pneumatic, but increasingly electromagnetic digital flow meters are being used. Read the rest of this entry »

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