Following a public outcry, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield announced December 5 it had walked back plans that would have put time limits on health insurance payments for anesthesia care in certain states. But the brief brouhaha shined a light on an often neglected, yet central, component of surgical care.
Anesthesiologists don’t just put people under, says Amy Vinson, a pediatric anesthesiologist and expert in well-being at Boston Children’s Hospital. They also monitor a person’s vital signs and pain levels before, during and after surgery. Should a crisis arise, such as a sudden drop in blood pressure or heavy bleeding, the anesthesiologist delivers vital fluids and medication.
“There may be [nurses and surgeons] who come in out of the operating room,” says Vinson. “But the one true constant is a member of the anesthesia team, who is right there with the patient … from the moment anesthesia care starts in pre-op until it stops in the recovery room.” Their presence throughout a procedure means anesthesiologists often become the patient’s de facto support person, Vinson adds.
Putting time limits on anesthesiologists and, by extension, surgeons could cause those in the operating room to feel rushed, says anesthesiologist and pain physician Alopi Patel of RWJ Barnabas Health in New Brunswick, N.J. And that, she says, could jeopardize patient safety.
Everything from a patient’s individual physiology to unexpected incidents in the operating room can affect how long a surgery takes (SN: 7/28/15). “You can average out surgical times. But you can’t just say that if the standard [procedure] takes two hours, we’re now going to only allow two hours. Every patient is different,” says Patel, who spoke to Science News in her capacity as a member of the communications committee for the New York State…
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