The role of the out-of-operating room anesthesiologist in the care of the cardiac patient

Con: The Length of Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship Training Should Not Be Extended Beyond One Year

Fellowship training in adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology (ACTA) is a one-year postgraduate experience with formal accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. ACTA is a competitive and evolving subspeciality. With expanding knowledge, clinical roles and technical skills required of the modern cardiothoracic anesthesiologists, the optimal structure and duration of the fellowship training are worth considering. This manuscript provides supporting rationale for fellowship training in ACTA to remain one year in duration. The expanding responsibilities of the cardiothoracic anesthesiologist and strategies to best train the future of the subspecialty within the current training structure are discussed. It also briefly examines the history and current status of the fellowship training, reviews considerations for increasing fellowship duration, and highlights personal and financial considerations during the training.

Monitored Anesthesia Care by Sedation-Trained Providers in Acute Stroke Thrombectomy

Background: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for ischemic stroke can be performed under local anesthesia (LA), conscious sedation (CS), or general anesthesia (GA). The need for monitoring by anesthesia providers may be resource intensive. We sought to determine differences in outcomes of MT when sedation is performed by an anesthesia team compared to sedation-trained providers. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis on patients who were screened by a pre-hospital stroke severity screening tool and underwent MT at two stroke centers. Baseline characteristics, time metrics, sedatives, peri-procedural intubation, complications, and outcomes were recorded. Good outcome was defined as modified Rankin score of ≤2. Results: We analyzed 104 patients (sedation-trained provider = 63, anesthesia team = 41) between July 2015 and December 2017. In the sedation-trained provider group, four patients required intervention by an anesthesia team. There were no differences in patients receiving LA (sedation-trained provider 24% vs. anesthesia team 27% p = 0.82), CS (70 vs. 63%, p = 0.53), or GA (6 vs. 10%, p = 0.71) between groups. Sedation-trained providers were more likely to use only one drug during the procedure (62 vs. 34%, p = 0.009). The rate of procedural complications (9.5 vs. 4.5%, p = 0.48), good outcome (56 vs. 39%, p = 0.11), and mortality (22 vs. 24%, p = 0.82) was similar between groups. Sedation by provider type did not predict functional outcome or mortality at 3 months. Conclusions: Sedation-trained providers are capable of delivering appropriate sedation without compromising patient safety. The use of "as needed" anesthesia teams for MT may have considerable effect on resource allocation and cost.