Critically review and judge the evolving role of the anaesthetic nurse. word length : 2500 - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Since nurses have to play a significant role in the patients’ care, tactfulness, knowledge, experience in handling emergency situation, discretion, judgment, alertness and empathy on their part are very important for overall efficiency in treatment to the patients. Evidence based anaesthesia nursing practice calls for placing more emphasis on literature evidence than scientific studies for enhancing the expertise in the field of anaesthesia. For use of current evidence in providing care to the patients, it is essential to analyze the existing evidences in terms of definition of the problem, applications used to overcome the problems, methods adopted, reliability of the evidences used for the study, clinical trials, surveys, expert opinions or case reports and applicability of the evidences to the present case for formulating strategies and implementation by establishing standards. Evolution of Anaesthetic nursing Though Nightingale’s ideology is considered as the starting point for modern nursing, theoretical basis for nursing has evolved later in the history. Frederic Hewitt’s textbook on Anaesthetics and their Administration in 1893 was an important milestone in training in the field of anaesthesia (Scurr, 1971, p. 275). Ether and chloroform had been used as anaesthetic agents for a long time as they were effective and fast. A patient “under ether, sinks into a calm and dreamless sleep” and surgery is performed successfully without suffering pain, but “the danger in breathing ether is chiefly from impeded or failing respiration” (Cheever, 1884, p. 509). However, after the advent of advanced and safer inhalation anaesthetic agents, use of ether and chloroform has been gradually stopped. Chloroform was widely used as an anaesthetic agent. However, it was later found that it caused cardiac problems to the patients and abandoned also due to its toxic properties. Brandy, opium and cocaine were used as anaesthetics throughout the world in various countries. There are number of derivatives such as amylocaine and procaine that are cocaine based. Regulations and standardisation in different countries brought control over their manufacturing and use. Opioid compounds have been used in treatment of pain for a long time in medical history due to its analgesic effects. Opiate based drugs like Codeine and Hydrocodone have been used as pain killers. These drugs have addictive properties which lead to dependence on these drugs. Morphine is a widely used opiate analgesic drug and regarded as standard analgesic. Advent of morphine which could be injected hypodermically changed the course of anaesthesiology completely. Diamorphine called as heroine used to treat severe pain can also be administered intravenously. Nitrous oxide is commonly used in dentistry as an inhalation analgesic. It is considered effective and safe to provide moderate sedation. It is effective as general anaesthesia for suppressing all sensations. It should be cautiously used in some cases like schizophrenia or pregnancy. “Nitrous oxide (N2O) has been used for about 150 years in clinical anaesthesia. Several recent reviews of the effect of nitrous oxide have concluded that there are certain ...Download file to see next pagesRead More