Published on July 05, 2005

Methodist Adds Anesthesia Monitors to Increase Patient Safety

7/5/2005

A surgical patient's worst nightmare is the thought of waking up prematurely during surgery. With increased patient safety a primary concern, Methodist is now using a new monitoring system in all its operating rooms to assist physicians with anesthesia. The BIS monitor is a non-invasive sensor that is placed on the patient's forehead to continuously monitor brain waves during surgery. The BIS (Bispectral Index) monitor allows anesthesiologists to tailor anesthesia to the patient. Methodist is the first hospital in Central Illinois to utilize the high-tech monitoring system in all its surgical units.

The new system reduces the risk of patients becoming aware of surgery. Anesthesia awareness, also called unintended intraoperative awareness, occurs under general anesthesia when a patient becomes cognizant of some or all events during surgery or a procedure, and has direct recall of those events. The frequency of anesthesia awareness has been found in multiple studies to range between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent of all patients undergoing general anesthesia nationwide.

Individual anesthetic needs can vary widely based on such factors as age, weight, and medical history. Before the BIS monitor, physicians relied on indirect signs, like heart rate and blood pressure, to determine the appropriate amount of anesthesia to use throughout a surgical procedure. While this works in a majority of cases, the BIS monitor gives anesthesia providers the ability to continuously assess a patient's level of consciousness throughout the surgery and fine-tune adjustments to the types and quantities of anesthetic drugs administered.

According to Dr. John (Jack) Ayres, Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology for Methodist, "Many patients are concerned that they may not get the optimal dose of anesthesia. No patient wants to receive too little anesthesia and wake up during surgery or, on the other hand, get more anesthetic than they need." Ayres said,"With the BIS monitor, we can effectively decrease the chances of underdosing or overdosing by monitoring each patient's level of consciousness throughout surgery."

Using a sensor placed on the patient's forehead, the BIS monitor constantly translates the patient's brain waves into a single number that represents the patient's level of consciousness. Physicians use that number to adjust the dose of anesthesia medication throughout a patient's surgery, ensuring the patient gets the accurate amount of anesthesia. This precise dosing also aids in faster recovery after surgery by reducing the risk of postoperative side effects like nausea.

Clinical studies, as well as routine use, demonstrate that the BIS monitor improves quality of care by:

• Enhancing Patient Recovery -- By facilitating more precise amounts of anesthetic, fewer drugs are used. Using fewer drugs often leads to faster, more predictable patient wake-ups, less grogginess, less post-operative nausea and vomiting, and reduced costs.
• Improving Operating Efficiencies -- More alert patients enable faster turnover of operating rooms and more efficient room scheduling. The need for intense postoperative nursing care decreases significantly and thereby decreases costs.

The BIS monitor is manufactured by Aspect Medical Systems of Newton, Mass.