Anesthetic Implications of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in the Adult Population
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The intent of this project was to assess the student nurse anesthetist’s level of understanding on the anesthetic implications of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The researchers aimed to educate this cohort on the best evidence-based practice in managing patients with OSA. There is a very high correlation between OSA and increased body mass index (BMI). As the prevalence of obesity rapidly rises in the United States, health care clinicians find themselves caring for more patients with OSA. Due to the increased prevalence of OSA, it is imperative that new clinicians have a sound knowledge of the comorbidities and the anesthetic implications that are directly related to this disease. The literature review revealed that OSA is largely under diagnosed. The literature also revealed common strategies that should be implemented perioperatively to reduce post-op complications in this specific group of patients. Research indicates that patients with OSA may be more sensitive to opioids, thus should be used sparingly. Another focus of this project was to improve screening for OSA and to better manage their anesthetic care. A pretest was administered to the participants before an educational presentation, then a posttest after the presentation was completed to measure the increase in knowledge. The pre-and posttests were graded and the statistics were analyzed utilizing a paired t-test. From the data, the researchers determined the t value is -13.347 (p < .001) which is statistically significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a significant increase in the mean percentage values between pre-test and post-test.
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