A survey shows that 60% of facilities are following the recommendations regarding pre-surgery and CPAP machines from the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia.
When the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia released its consensus statement on preoperative selection of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), it recommended that ambulatory surgery centers instruct patients on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to bring their devices on their day of surgery (Anesth Analg 2012;115:1060-1068). Now, a survey by a Texas research team has shown that some 60% of facilities follow the recommendations, with more reporting that they have a device on hand, should it become necessary.
“Sleep apnea is a very real phenomenon that we have to deal with in ambulatory surgery, especially because we’re trying to reduce postoperative complications and not have patients go to the hospital afterwards,” said Amin Alishahi, MD, a resident at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas.
“As we know, CPAP can improve hypoxic episodes and minimize complications. So we wanted to see how ambulatory surgical centers are adhering to the guidelines in today’s practice.”
