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THE TOP 10 ANESTHESIA JOURNALS

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THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
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This column will help you find the top 10 anesthesia journals. Prior to the internet, hard copies of medical journals were bound into volumes and stored at hospital or medical school libraries. To find a specific article required a dive into the archives of the library, with the eventual reward of finding the specific article and then photocopying it to use for your pending lecture, paper, or patient care. In the internet age, all journals are catalogued in the virtual library of the search engine PubMed.  Once you find your desired article, the abstract or sometimes the full text article is available for you to read and/or copy into your personal computer.

With this virtual library model, it makes little sense for individual clinicians to subscribe to monthly journals. Your search for journal references is done via Google or PubMed. Which journals are accessed most often? Traditional academic rankings of journals rely on the “impact factor” of each journal.

Impact factor is defined as the “scientometric index which reflects the yearly mean number of citations of the articles published in the last two years in that journal.” One such impact factor ranking list is located here.  The impact factor/rate of citations is different from the number of clicks an article receives on internet searches. How many people actually read an article? There is currently no ranking system to quantitate the important metric of internet clicks, which would document the degree of interest readers have with a specific article or journal.

Clinical anesthesia providers such as myself want to read information which impacts patient care, rather than to read basic science studies such as this one:  Pholcodine exposure increases the risk of perioperative anaphylaxis to neuromuscular blocking agents: the ALPHO case-control study. Which journals/publications contain the most valuable clinical information? There are multiple fine journals in our specialty, but in my opinion the top 10 periodical anesthesia publications for clinical information follow below. Note that 2 of the top 4 publications did not even exist when I began my anesthesia training in 1984.

THE 2023 ANESTHESIACONSULTANT.COM LIST OF THE TOP 10 ANESTHESIA PUBLICATIONS:

TEN: Journal of Clinical Anesthesia.  Per their website, this journal “addresses all aspects of anesthesia practice, including anesthetic administration, pharmacokinetics, preoperative and postoperative considerations, coexisting disease and other complicating factors, cost issues, and similar concerns anesthesiologists contend with daily. . . . JCA is affiliated with three societies that make it their official journal: the American Association of Clinical Directors (AACD); the Society for Airway Management (SAM); and the Orthopedic Anesthesia Pain Rehabilitation Society (OAPRS).” This publication launched in 1988. Comment: The Journal of Clinical Anesthesia is best known for presenting clinical data regarding relevant questions in the practice of anesthesiology.

NINE: European Journal of Anaesthesiology. Per their website, “The European Journal of Anaesthesiology is the official journal of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC), and all members receive the journal as a benefit of membership.” This publication launched in 1983. Comment: As the flagship publication for the European Society, this journal is a reliable source of recent relevant anesthesia studies.

EIGHT: Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.  Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. Per their website, this journal is “the official publication of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine(ASRA), a monthly scientific journal dedicated to mitigating the global burden of pain. Coverage includes all aspects of acute, perioperative, transitional, and chronic pain medicine. . . . this respected journal also serves as the official publication of the European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA), the Asian and Oceanic Society of Regional Anesthesia (AOSRA), the Latin American Society of Regional Anesthesia (LASRA), and the African Society for Regional Anesthesia (AFSRA).” This journal launched in 1976. Comment: The diagnosis and treatment of pain is the greatest frontier in the specialty of anesthesiology in the 21st century. Look to Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine as the leading journal in this vital subspecialty of anesthesiology.

 

SEVEN: Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia.  Per their website, this journal “is primarily aimed at anesthesiologists who deal with patients undergoing cardiac, thoracic or vascular surgical procedures. JCVA features a multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from cardiac, vascular and thoracic surgeons, cardiologists, and other related specialists.” This journal launched in 1987. Comment: The practices of cardiac, thoracic, and vascular anesthesia are the most demanding in our profession, and the Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia is the leader in reporting advances in these challenging subspecialties.

SIX: British Journal of Anaesthesia.  Per their website, this journal “publishes high-impact original work in all branches of anaesthesia, critical care medicine, pain medicine and perioperative medicine. . . . The journal is proudly affiliated with The Royal College of Anaesthetists, The College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland, and The Hong Kong College of Anaesthesiologists.” This publication launched in 1923. Comment: This British journal is the second longest running publication of the ten in this list, and is a very well-known and well-respected journal in our profession.

FIVE: Anaesthesia.  Per their website, this journal “is the official journal of the Association of Anaesthetists and is international in scope and comprehensive in coverage. It publishes original, peer-reviewed articles on all aspects of general and regional anaesthesia, intensive care and pain therapy.” This publication launched in 1930. Comment: This British journal is the third longest running publication of the ten in this list, and is a well-known and well-respected journal in our profession.

FOUR: The ASA Monitor.  Per their website, this is “the official news publication of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. The ASA Monitor delivers the latest specialty and industry news, and practice-changing clinical information to the perioperative health care community.” This publication launched in 2004. Comment: The ASA Monitor byline is “The Leading Source for Perioperative Health Care News.”  The ASA Monitor is essentially a monthly newspaper which reports on pertinent topics regarding anesthesiology in the United States. It’s delivered to all members of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

 

THREE: The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) Newsletter.  Per their website, this publication’s  mission is “to improve the safety of patients during anesthesia care by: Identifying safety initiatives and creating recommendations to implement directly and with partner organizations, being a leading voice for anesthesia patient safety worldwide, and supporting and advancing anesthesia patient safety culture, knowledge, and learning. The APSF Vision Statement is ‘That no one shall be harmed by anesthesia care.’” This publication launched in 1986. Comment: The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Newsletter is the Quality Improvement/Quality Assurance publication for our profession. The editors ferret out current problems in anesthesiology and provide solutions in an attempt to lessen or eliminate complications in the future. The APSF Newsletter should be required reading for all anesthesia professionals in order to best protect our patients.

TWO: ANESTHESIA & ANALGESIA.   Per their website, “ANESTHESIA & ANALGESIA is the ‘The Global Standard in Anesthesiology,’ and provides the practice-oriented, clinical research you need to keep current and provide optimal care to your patients. Each monthly issue brings you peer reviewed articles on the latest advances in drugs, preoperative preparation, patient monitoring, pain management, pathophysiology, and many other timely topics. . . . ANESTHESIA & ANALGESIA is the official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society and all members receive the journal as a benefit of membership.” This publication launched in 1922. Comment: A & A (as this journal is referred to in our profession) is an outstanding publication, second only to Anesthesiology.

ONE: ANESTHESIOLOGY. Per their website, “ANESTHESIOLOGY leads the world in publishing and disseminating the highest quality work to inform daily clinical practice and transform the practice of medicine in the specialty. . . . Founded in 1940, ANESTHESIOLOGY is the official journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists but operates with complete editorial autonomy, with an independent and internationally recognized Editorial Board.” Comment: Anesthesiology is the blueprint for what a 21st century journal should  be, mixing breakthrough science and clinical studies with the all-important American Society of Anesthesiologist standards, guidelines, and practice parameters which define our profession.

My advice? Be intellectually curious about all things related to anesthesiology. Use PubMed and Google to look up questions you want answered. You’ll be directed to many of the publications above, and you’ll be a smarter clinician as a result.

In addition:  There are dozens of anesthesia textbooks. I’ve ranked the Top 11 Anesthesia Textbooks in a previous column.

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The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include: How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia? Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia? Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia? What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications? How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century? Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia? What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include: 10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6? 12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 170/99? Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

READ ABOUT RICK NOVAK’S FICTION WRITING AT RICK NOVAK.COM

HOW THE INTERNET CHANGED ANESTHESIOLOGY FOREVER

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THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
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Anesthesia is a hands-on specialty. We use our manual skills daily to place breathing tubes, insert intravenous and intra-arterial catheters, and place needles for spinal punctures, epidural catheters, and regional nerve blocks. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the internet as “an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world.” This definition seems to have has very little to do with inserting breathing tubes, catheters, or needles, yet the internet changed anesthesiology forever.

The internet is the biggest change in anesthesiology since the FDA approvals of propofol in 1989, the laryngeal mask airway in 1991, and sevoflurane in 2002.

Picture this: your job requires you to spend the majority of your day in a windowless room with four other people. You cannot leave the room, and if you make a serious error in your work, someone can die. There is a telephone on the wall. You’re allowed to bring along a briefcase or a backpack. 

This was the description of the anesthesiology workplace prior to the internet. Vigilance regarding a sleeping patient’s vital signs was always paramount, but the constant effort to be vigilant could be mind-numbing. No one can stare at an ECG/oximeter/blood pressure monitor for hours without interruption. Anesthesiologists could chat with the surgeons and/or nurses, make an occasional phone call, and at times read materials they brought with them into the operating room. Major adverse events seldom occur during the middle of a general anesthetic of long duration on a healthy patient. A comparison would be a commercial pilot flying an airplane from San Francisco to New York. The flight lasts 5 hours, but there would likely be only minor adjustments in course or altitude during the middle 4 hours. Anesthesia is said to be “99% boredom and 15 panic,” because 99% of the time patients are stable, yet 1% of the time, especially at the beginning and the end of anesthetics, urgent or emergency circumstances could threaten the life of the patient.

Since the development of the internet, anesthesia practice has changed forever. Every hospital operating room is equipped with a computer connected to the internet. Every anesthesia provider carries a smartphone connected to the internet. Many anesthesia providers carry a laptop or a tablet in their briefcases. These devices enable an anesthesiologist to remain connected to the outside world during surgery. Let’s look at the specific ways the internet has changed anesthesia practice:  

Electronic Medical Record anesthesia intraoperative vital signs record
  • Electronic medical records (EMRs). Love it or hate it, the EMR is here to stay. The EMR requires a computer terminal and screen in every operating room, and every hospital operating room must be connected to the internet. A patient’s EMR combines information from previous clinic visits, emergency room visits, laboratory and test results, and all data from the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative course on the day of surgery. Anesthesiologists type information into the EMR multiple times during each case.
AN EXAMPLE PUBMED SEARCH SCREEN
  • Immediate access to medical search engines. A major advantage of internet connectivity is the ability to immediately research any medical question or problem. Abstracts of every published medical study are available on Pubmed. For those of us on the faculty of a university hospital, hundreds of medical textbooks are immediately available online as reference sources. The entire catalog of FDA-approved drugs is listed on the PDR (Physician’s Desk Reference) website, or on the PDR app on our smartphones. These are all invaluable tools which empower a physician anesthesiologist and improve care to every patient.  
  • Connectivity to other anesthesia providers is a third important advantage of the internet. We’re now able to immediately contact a colleague by cell phone, text message, or email if we have a question or a problem. In anesthesia care team models, in which a Certified Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is physically present in the operating room while being supervised by an attending physician anesthesiologist, the MD anesthesiologist can be summoned to return to the operating room in seconds if a problem arises. You can also imagine a future vision of telemedicine in which an experienced physician anesthesiologist, who lives many miles or time zones away, can supervise a CRNA or an inexperienced anesthesiologist performing in-person patient care via Zoom conferencing. 

A 2010 publication in the journal Anaesthesia and Intensive Care stated, “Experienced anesthetists are skilled at multi-tasking while maintaining situational awareness, but there are limits. Noise, interruptions and emotional arousal are detrimental to the cognitive performance of anesthetists. While limited reading during periods of low task load may not reduce vigilance, computer use introduces text-based activities that are more interactive and potentially more distracting.”

From what I observe of anesthesia practice in the year 2021, intermittent use of the internet during anesthesia duty is not uncommon. The windowless confines of the operating room are now connected to the world.

Further scholarly research regarding computers, tablets, cell phones, and internet use in the operating room will no doubt be forthcoming. Stay tuned.

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The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:
How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?
Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?
Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?
What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?
How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?
Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?
What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:
10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia
Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?
12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training
Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 170/99?
Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams
What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

READ ABOUT RICK NOVAK’S FICTION WRITING AT RICK NOVAK.COM.

THE PERILS OF INTERNET MEDICINE

THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT Leave a comment
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
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The printing press was the most influential invention of the last millennium. Now individuals use computers to search for Internet medical knowledge.

Gutenberg and his printing press
The modern Internet

THE PRINTING PRESS AND THE REFORMATION . . . , THE INTERNET AND MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE

The book 1000 years, 1000 People by Agnes and Henry Gottlieb identifies Johannes Gutenberg as the most influential person during the millennium 1000-1999 AD.Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press in the 1440’s. The Printing Revolution played a key role in the onset of the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, the rise in literacy, and the spread of ideas and learning throughout the world. The Bible in 1455 was the first book printed in mass quantities, and Christianity was forever changed. Prior to the printing press, the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church possessed most of the handwritten copies of the Bible. Parishioners didn’t read the Bible—their priests did. Sunday sermons were weekly tutorials teaching church-goers the lessons inside the Bible. As soon as the Bible was printed in large quantities, the masses had access to read the book themselves, and the masses had the opportunity to question the Catholic Church’s interpretations. In 1517 Martin Luther published The Ninety-Five Theses and nailed them to the door of the Wittenberg Church, a development acknowledged to have begun the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic Church’s monopoly on Christian dogma was challenged.

Beginning in the 1990’s a comparable world-changing event occurred, as the widespread ownership of inexpensive and powerful personal computers allowed individuals to access the Internet. According to the Internet World Stats website , in the 21 years since 1995, Internet use has grown 100-fold, and currently one-third of the world’s population has online access.

Just as the printing press made the Bible available to the masses, the Internet makes medical knowledge available to the masses. Prior to the Internet, medical knowledge was primarily confined to medical textbooks and journals, read exclusively by medical professionals. A few non-medical professionals wrote articles in magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias to explain medical facts, diagnoses, and therapy to the lay public, but the overwhelming majority of the information was only presented to doctors and nurses in the form of medical books and journals.

The Internet has expanded the availability of medical information. Tens of thousands of medical websites exist, and laypeople surf the Internet for medical facts daily.  Bupa Health Plus  conducted a study in twelve countries, and found nearly 50% of the people seeking medical information on the Internet do so to make a self-diagnosis, and 75% of these individuals did nothing to check the accuracy of the online medical advice. In addition, some patients seek medical knowledge to decide whether they need to see a doctor or not.

Nowadays when patients arrive at a doctor’s office for an initial visit regarding a problem, it’s not uncommon for them to be armed with plentiful information on what their diagnosis might be, what their diagnostic workup should be, and what treatment options they want to have. Nowadays when patients arrive at the hospital for surgery, it’s not uncommon for them to be armed with abundant information on their disease, their pending operation, and even their anesthesia options.

Prior to the Internet, patients had to trust in the knowledge and experience of their doctors to direct the appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic regimen. Now it’s routine for patients to do their Internet homework before they see the doctor.

Some medical websites are invaluable. The National Library of Medicine website PubMed lists the abstracts of all medical publications online for free. Physicians can search by author’s name or other key words. Lay people can access and search medical information with this powerful tool as well.

Other websites are less reliable. There is no quality control regarding medical information on the Internet. Anyone can put medical information on a Web server, and the information posted may be incorrect or outdated. Medical websites may present fraudulent or deceptive information, often in an attempt to sell a product or a service. How can the public discern whether the medical information on the Internet is reliable? In his article Snake Oil: The Accuracy of Medical Information on the Internet Snake Oil: The Accuracy of Medical Information on the Internet, Dr. VN Reddy lists the following advice regarding choosing medical websites:

  1. Ask your doctor to suggest sites he or she thinks are well-written and accurate.
  1. Browse the medical professional organizations’ websites. For example, the American Society of Anesthesiologists or the American Academy of Pediatrics.
  1. Browse public-health websites, such as those by the Center for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, or the National Institutes of Health.
  1. Check each website you read for the author’s name and qualifications and the date when the page was last revised.

A  National Institutes of Health website identifies the following key points to determine whether an online source of medical information is reliable:

  1. Any website should make it easy for you to learn who is responsible for the site and its information.
  2. If the person or organization in charge of the website did not write the material, the website should clearly identify the original source of the information.
  3. Health-related websites should give information about the medical credentials of the people who have prepared or reviewed the material on the site.
  4. Any website that asks you for personal information should explain exactly what the site will and will not do with that information.
  5. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Federal Trade Commission are federal government agencies that help protect consumers from false or misleading health claims on the Internet.

The Internet is a valuable tool to expand your medical knowledge. I use it every day, and I probably learn more from the Internet than from any other source. However, this valuable tool must come with a disclaimer. In the 20th Century we were warned, “don’t believe everything you read in the newspaper. Today that advice can be expanded to “don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.” Read only reputable medical websites for your medical information, and above all, rely on your own doctor(s) to manage your medical problems.

 

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

 

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?

12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training

Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

What Personal Characteristics are Necessary to Become a Successful Anesthesiologist?

 

 

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Published in September 2017:  The second edition of THE DOCTOR AND MR. DYLAN, Dr. Novak’s debut novel, a medical-legal mystery which blends the science and practice of anesthesiology with unforgettable characters, a page-turning plot, and the legacy of Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this debut thriller, tragedies strike an anesthesiologist as he tries to start a new life with his son.

Dr. Nico Antone, an anesthesiologist at Stanford University, is married to Alexandra, a high-powered real estate agent obsessed with money. Their son, Johnny, an 11th-grader with immense potential, struggles to get the grades he’ll need to attend an Ivy League college. After a screaming match with Alexandra, Nico moves himself and Johnny from Palo Alto, California, to his frozen childhood home of Hibbing, Minnesota. The move should help Johnny improve his grades and thus seem more attractive to universities, but Nico loves the freedom from his wife, too. Hibbing also happens to be the hometown of music icon Bob Dylan. Joining the hospital staff, Nico runs afoul of a grouchy nurse anesthetist calling himself Bobby Dylan, who plays Dylan songs twice a week in a bar called Heaven’s Door. As Nico and Johnny settle in, their lives turn around; they even start dating the gorgeous mother/daughter pair of Lena and Echo Johnson. However, when Johnny accidentally impregnates Echo, the lives of the Hibbing transplants start to implode. In true page-turner fashion, first-time novelist Novak gets started by killing soulless Alexandra, which accelerates the downfall of his underdog protagonist now accused of murder. Dialogue is pitch-perfect, and the insults hurled between Nico and his wife are as hilarious as they are hurtful: “Are you my husband, Nico? Or my dependent?” The author’s medical expertise proves central to the plot, and there are a few grisly moments, as when “dark blood percolated” from a patient’s nostrils “like coffee grounds.” Bob Dylan details add quirkiness to what might otherwise be a chilly revenge tale; we’re told, for instance, that Dylan taught “every singer with a less-than-perfect voice…how to sneer and twist off syllables.” Courtroom scenes toward the end crackle with energy, though one scene involving a snowmobile ties up a certain plot thread too neatly. By the end, Nico has rolled with a great many punches.

Nuanced characterization and crafty details help this debut soar.

Click on the image below to reach the Amazon link to The Doctor and Mr. Dylan:

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LEARN MORE ABOUT RICK NOVAK’S FICTION WRITING AT RICK NOVAK.COM BY CLICKING ON THE PICTURE BELOW:

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WHAT IS PUBMED?

THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT Leave a comment
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
THE ANESTHESIA CONSULTANT
Physician anesthesiologist at Stanford at Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group
Richard Novak, MD is a Stanford physician board certified in anesthesiology and internal medicine.Dr. Novak is an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Stanford University, the Medical Director at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California, and a member of the Associated Anesthesiologists Medical Group in Palo Alto, California.
emailrjnov@yahoo.com
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PubMed is most important medical website on the Internet. If you’re a layperson seeking practical and accurate medical knowledge, you need PubMed. If you’re a medical professional seeking state-of-the-art information from the medical literature, you need PubMed.

PubMed is most important medical website on the Internet.

If you’re a layperson seeking practical and accurate medical knowledge, you need PubMed.

If you’re a medical professional seeking state-of-the-art information from the medical literature, you need PubMed.

There are tens of thousands of medical websites. Some offer truthful, reliable information. Other websites are authored by less reputable sources and can be deceptive. PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintains the database. PubMed comprises more than 24 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.

PubMed is to medical information what Google is to Internet information. Every article published in a reputable medical journal is listed in PubMed, and every article is accessible and discoverable by keywords. The keyword can be an author’s name, a journal name, or most commonly, a medical topic.

For example, if you are interested in information about propofol use for colonoscopy, you would enter PROPOFOL, COLONOSCOPY into the PubMed search window. A list of 253 abstracts of medical journal articles appears in seconds. The abstracts are listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent listed first. By perusing the 253 abstracts, you’ll have an overview of what peer-reviewed researchers have published on the topic.

This is the first abstract listed under PROPOFOL, COLONOSCOPY:

Gastrointest Endosc. 2015 Apr 4. pii: S0016-5107(15)00058-9. doi: 10.1016/j.gie.2015.01.041. [Epub ahead of print]

Practice patterns of sedation for colonoscopy.

Childers RE1, Williams JL1, Sonnenberg A1.

Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Sedative and analgesic medications have been used routinely for decades to provide patient comfort, reduce procedure time, and improve examination quality during colonoscopy.

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate trends of sedation during colonoscopy in the United States.

SETTING:

Endoscopic data repository of U.S. gastroenterology practices (Clinical Outcomes Research Initiative, CORI database from 2000 until 2013).

PATIENTS:

The study population was made up of patients undergoing a total of 1,385,436 colonoscopies.

INTERVENTIONS:

Colonoscopy without any intervention or with mucosal biopsy, polypectomy, various means of hemostasis, luminal dilation, stent placement, or ablation.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS:

Dose of midazolam, diazepam, fentanyl, meperidine, diphenhydramine, promethazine, and propofol used for sedation during colonoscopy.

RESULTS:

During the past 14 years, midazolam, fentanyl, and propofol have become the most commonly used sedatives for colonoscopy. Except for benzodiazepines, which were dosed higher in women than men, equal doses of sedation were given to female and male patients. White patients were given higher doses than other ethnic groups undergoing sedation for colonoscopy. Except for histamine-1 receptor antagonists, all sedative medications were given at lower doses to patients with increasing age. The dose of sedatives was higher in colonoscopies associated with procedural interventions or of long duration.

LIMITATIONS:

Potential for incomplete or incorrect documentation in the database.

CONCLUSION:

The findings reflect on colonoscopy practice in the United States during the last 14 years and provide an incentive for future research on how sex and ethnicity influence sedation practices.

A similar abstract precedes almost every medical journal article in its original publication format. PubMed catalogs these abstracts for readers. The original medical journal articles with the full text of the study are rarely available online. Libraries, individual scientists, and physicians subscribe to the actual journals. With PubMed, the summaries of articles published in journals are available to all readers on the Internet for free.

Prior to the Internet, researching medical topics was a tedious and difficult process requiring many hours of paging through hard copies of medical journals stored in university medical libraries. I subscribed to top journals in my specialties, e.g. the New England Journal of Medicine, or Anesthesiology. I read these journals weekly, tore out the pages of the most important articles, and stored these in a file cabinet in my office.

With PubMed, those days are gone.

I utilize PubMed almost every day in researching clinical problems for patient care, preparing lectures, writing articles, and authoring this website. If you’re a medical professional, I recommend you rely on PubMed for the same reasons.

If you’re a layperson, Google will often direct you to medical information websites such as WebMD, HealthCentral, or Wikipedia. I recommend you set a bookmark for PubMed. Laypeople can understand most of the terminology in PubMed. If you have difficulty, I recommend you Google the words you are puzzled with, and continue to increase your knowledge base as you read on.

There’s an enormous, vivid world of medical data out there. Get on the PubMed train and keep educating yourself!

 

The most popular posts for laypeople on The Anesthesia Consultant include:

How Long Will It Take To Wake Up From General Anesthesia?

Why Did Take Me So Long To Wake From General Anesthesia?

Will I Have a Breathing Tube During Anesthesia?

What Are the Common Anesthesia Medications?

How Safe is Anesthesia in the 21st Century?

Will I Be Nauseated After General Anesthesia?

What Are the Anesthesia Risks For Children?

 

The most popular posts for anesthesia professionals on The Anesthesia Consultant  include:

10 Trends for the Future of Anesthesia

Should You Cancel Anesthesia for a Potassium Level of 3.6?

12 Important Things to Know as You Near the End of Your Anesthesia Training

Should You Cancel Surgery For a Blood Pressure = 178/108?

Advice For Passing the Anesthesia Oral Board Exams

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