ICU Management & Practice, ICU Volume 6 - Issue 2 - Summer 2006

ASPE Releases First-Ever Treatment Guidelines for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathic Pain

www.paineducators.org

 

The American Society of Pain Educators (ASPE) published consensus guidelines for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain in the April issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.This is the first set of guidelines ever released on this medical condition. The guidelines are intended to give medical practitioners a definitive, consistent treatment strategy for managing diabetics’ pain both improving treatment and minimizing medical errors. According to ASPE, approximately one million people are known to suffer from chronic and debilitating diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain.

 

JCAHO Issues Alert on Dangerous Tubing Misconnections

www.jointcommission.org

 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in the United States has issued a Sentinel Event Alert regarding dangerous misconnections of catheters and tubes used in medical procedures. The alert was triggered by reports to JCAHO, ECRI, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and United States Pharmacopeia, which revealed that tubing and catheter misconnection errors occur frequently and often have deadly consequences. According to JCAHO, tubes that require the use of force or adaptors to be connected or tubes that are used for anything other than their intended purpose may signal a possible misconnection. The JCAHO’s Sentinel Event Alert urges healthcare workers to pay special attention to the way in which they attach catheters and tubes to patients and challenges manufacturers to redesign devices that use these connections, so that misconnections are less likely to occur.

 

Resuscitation Council (UK) Releases Updated Statement on the Use of Automated External Defibrillators

www.resus.org.uk

 

In April 2006, the Resuscitation Council (UK) released an updated statement on the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) until they have been re-programmed to be compliant with Guidelines 2005, an international consensus on treatment standards during resuscitation. The updated treatment recommendations in Guidelines 2005 do not define the only way that successful resuscitation may be achieved; they merely represent a widely held view of how resuscitation can be undertaken both safely and effectively. The priority for patients in ventricular fibrillation is to deliver an effective shock with minimum delay, regardless of the specific procedures used.

 

The Resuscitation Council (UK) recognises that the AED algorithms published in 2000 and in 2005 are both capable of providing acceptable standards of treatment. According to the updated statement from the Resuscitation Council (UK), until AEDs (and training AEDs) have been reprogrammed to comply with Guidelines 2005, AEDs complaint with earlier guidelines should continue to be used. Similarly, AEDs incapable of modification may be used until the end of their useful life. In both cases it is imperative that their users are adequately trained and that users follow the voice prompts given by the machine.

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