epidural chair epidural safety Archives

Epidural Safety for Patients and Staff

by sphmedicaladmin February 24, 2021February 26, 2021

What is Epidural Safety?

Epidural Analgesia’s are used to reduce or completely eliminate pain. It is when the doctor inserts opioids or local anesthesia in their patient’s epidural space, which blocks the nerve roots. Staff and patients can be protected from injury when exercising epidural safety during this procedure.

Local anesthesia can include opioids such as morphine, hydromorphone, and fentanyl or drugs of a different class such as mepivacaine, lidocaine, bupivacaine, and ropivacaine. Mepivacaine and lidocaine can last up to 2.5 hours. Bupivacaine and ropivacaine are the options of choice for continuous epidural effusion because they last 4 to 7 hours. The walking epidural is a mix of narcotics, epinephrine, and local anesthesia that the doctor inserts into the patient’s epidural space.

Epidural Analgesia’s are often used during child birth to assist the woman in managing her pain. They are also utilized during surgery to numb the patient. Epidurals are often effective in blocking pain from the waist down. Their dosage is calculated by an anesthesiologist based on the type of epidural and how much of the patient needs to be numbed. They can eliminate pain for people in short term or long term situations.

Common Applications

Epidurals come in different types, depending on what they are being used for. Childbirth uses the standard epidural and the combined spinal epidural, which is also called the walking epidural. The walking epidural involves the administration needle coming in contact with the fluid around the spinal cord, whereas the needle does not meet the fluid around the spinal cord in the standard epidural.

The Benefits for Patients and Nurses

The benefits of having an epidural are plentiful. The walking epidural is beneficial because it allows for the mother to still have an awareness of the lower half of her body when giving birth. This allows the patient and nurse to coordinate the rhythm of her pushes. A walking epidural may or may not allow the mother to do cat and cow stretches. The standard epidural is beneficial because it completely eliminates feeling, which can avoid patients going into shock during invasive surgery, trauma, or child birth.

Epidural Safety and the Risks of Epidurals

The risks for patients when getting either type of epidural are low blood pressure, being mandated to stay in bed, and having to rely on a catheter. The catheter can cause problems such as the rare case of hematoma, epidural abscess, postdural puncture syndrome, and infection at the site of insertion.

Standard epidurals leave the patient with no feeling in the lower extremities, which can prevent the ability to shift in bed and the ability to move the baby into a more favorable position when birthing. Standard epidurals also involve the risk of local anesthetic toxicity, which can present with irritability, seizures, circumoral paresthesia, dysgeusia, cardiac dysrhythmias, tremors, and tinnitus.

The drugs used for epidurals can also have side effects on the patient. The opioids commonly used can cause nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression, decreased levels of consciousness, and the excessive itchiness all over the body.

Nurses and medical personnel are at risk for getting injuries when administering epidurals as well. Positioning the patient correctly and supporting them while administering the epidural can be a potentially dangerous task. This has typically been a manual process of holding and supporting the patient. Manual patient handling is the cause of many back injuries for nurses across the country as well as strains and sprains. Musculoskeletal Disorders The Epidural Positioning Device is a key tool to keep the patient and doctor safe. It assists patients with maintaining the optimal position for their epidural to be administered. This is because it supports cervical, thoracic, and lumbar flexion. This positioning is essential because a patient can be paralyzed if they were to slip out of position while the needle was injected. The chair prevents doctors and staff from straining as well. It also allows patients more personal space, as opposed to traditional methods of epidural safety administration.

Patient Handling

Epidural Chair for Epidural Safety

by sphmedicaladmin January 27, 2021January 27, 2021

Epidural Analgesia for Pain Relief During Labor and Delivery

Epidural injections or epidural anesthesia is defined as regional anesthesia that blocks pain in a specific area of the body. To perform an epidural injection, the anesthesiologist utilizes a hollow needle to place an epidural catheter, which is a small and flexible plastic tube, into the space between the spinal column and outer membrane of the spinal cord (epidural space). This is in the middle or lower back. The area that the catheter will be placed will first receive a local anesthetic. As a result of the epidural injection, the nerve messages are blocked, which in turn causes numbness and also epidural pain relief in the lower half of the body. In terms of applications, epidural anesthesia is usually used for legs and lower belly surgeries, for helping control pain after chest and belly related major surgeries, as well as for relieving pain during labor and delivery. This is a complicated procedure so epidural safety is extremely important.

With respect to labor and delivery, a lot of women decide on having the epidural injection in order to cope with the severe pain during the whole birthing process. In this case, an epidural pump is utilized where pain relief drugs are continuously administered through the epidural tube mentioned earlier. The pain during labor is relieved as long as the drugs are being constantly pumped into the body. When the pumping is stopped, the entire feeling will come back within a few hours.

Epidural Pain Relief and Epidural Safety

In addition to epidural pain relief, the main pros for having an epidural injection during labor and delivery is being able to rest and relax, which helps a lot of women have a positive birthing experience. Another main advantage for taking an epidural is that it helps women be more alert, which in turn allows them to take an active role during their birthing process. Last, but not least, recent research shows that epidural injections may play a role in reducing postpartum depression in a certain number of females.

With the high frequency of epidural injections occurring in during labor and delivery units across the country, it’s important to consider the manual patient handling involved in positioning patients and the safety risks for patients and nurses alike. A device that should be considered is the epidural chair or the epidural positioning device (EPD). Patented in 2001, the epidural positioning device reduces risk of injury to nursing staff and improves patient comfort. The EPD features a 180 degrees adjustable face rest, a six position adjustable armrest allowing patients to comfortably rest their arms, an adjustable torso support to promote spinal flexion, and a height adjustable foot rest. The EPD is not just for labor and delivery. The EPD is currently considered the standard of care by surgical staff to administer spinal blocks prior to total hip and knee surgeries. With the functional design and obvious safety benefits the SPH Medical EPD has become the standard of care wherever spinals and epidurals are performed.

From a clinical perspective, anesthesiologists are using the epidural chair permits to encourage lumbar, thoracic and cervical flexion, positioning patients in both a correct and comfortable manner and importantly a stable, safe and secure position as well. The stable positioning supported by the Epidural Chair reduced the risks of complication while the anesthesiologist places the epidural. Thanks to the EPD, nursing staff are not having to hold patients in a static position, apply counter pressure, or manually handle patients. A number of recent studies have shown that the comfort and satisfaction levels of a large number of female patients that received the epidural analgesia were significantly higher when the epidural positioning device was used.

Reduce Risk of Injury in The Labor and Delivery Unit

Healthcare workers and patients are placed at risk of injury in the labor and delivery unit when staff members are manually handling patients. Whether it is holding, lifting, boosting or pushing the patient in a proper position, the patient not being able to change his or her position and follow the staff instructions, or even the patient being nervous, unpredictable or maybe nauseous and dizzy, positioning patients can be a very challenging task.

In point of fact, when handling patients during epidural injections, a large number of nurses are at risk of micro tears in their joints and vertebral discs that could eventually lead to injuries. Fortunately, thanks to the epidural positioning device, nurses and healthcare workers not only avoid these safety risks and challenging situations, but are also free to perform other imperative tasks.

Patient Handling

Epidural Chair for Thoracentesis

by sphmedicaladmin January 27, 2021February 5, 2021

Why use the Epidural Chair for Thoracentesis

Thoracentesis is an invasive procedure used to diagnose and medicate pleural effusions, during the treatment of a condition whereby excess fluid accumulates in the pleural space. Thoracentesis is used to manage symptoms like pain and shortness of breath. It relieves pressure in your lungs and provides epidural pain relief. The procedure also establishes the cause of the excess fluid found in the pleural space. Conditions such as tumors, lung infections, and heart failure are some of the causes of pleural effusions. This article offers you valuable information on the thoracentesis procedure and how the epidural chair can help the process.

Why is proper positioning important?

Patients are often encouraged to sit upright when the medical personnel performs the procedure. Sometimes women in pain during labor are encouraged to rest their hands on a pillow placed on a bedside table. It helps pulmonologists and sonographers access the posterior axillary space. That is a dependable part of the thorax and offers epidural pain relief to them.

Proper positioning is also vital for the safety of sick people. Hospitals should be guided by principles of Ergonomics when looking into their positioning. Ergonomics looks into the creation of tasks suited to worker’s capabilities. When used in handling the sick, it incorporates safety procedures and mechanical equipment used to move and lift them so that health care employees avoid manual exertions. Moreover, patient handling ergonomics maximizes their comfort and safety during movement.

How long is the procedure?

Thoracentesis is performed in a hospital by pulmonologists and sonographers. It usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. However, if an individual has a lot of fluid in their pleural space, it takes more than 15 minutes.

Why are nurses at risk of injury during this procedure, and why does the EPD benefit them?

One of the worst risk factors for nurse injuries during thoracentesis lies in moving and lifting patients. Manual handling of the sick is amongst the leading cause of back injuries, especially in nurses. Most American states require hospitals to adhere to the Safe Patient Handling program. This program evaluates high-risk tasks in inpatient units like pushing, pulling, lifting, and prolonged static holds. It establishes solutions centered on lessening the risk.

A nurse usually assists the patient to get into the proper position by moving around the bedside tray table and using the stool to offer support to their feet. During labor pain, they use a pillow to place the hands to ensure that they are comfortable. Nurses may trip if the bedside table is not locked securely. Therefore, risky positioning can contribute to unnecessary injury to patients and medical staff.

The Epidural Positioning Device benefits nurses in several ways. One of them is positioning the patient in a comfortable position that provides epidural pain relief faster. The nurse can help other health care personnel with other duties as they are not limited to holding the patient.

The device ensures that the sick person sits in the epidural chair steadily. That puts the nurse at ease when performing this procedure. It correctly positions the person who is ill since it is adjustable. Consequently, It helps the nurse to put them in the most optimal position. The epidural chair ensures there is no movement, which is crucial to nurses when conducting the procedure.

How does the Epidural Chair (Epidural Positioning Device) Help position Patients During Thoracentesis

The Epidural Positioning Device helps to solve risk factors attributed to administering the procedure and manual patient handling challenges. It assists in patient positioning to minimize unsafe manual patient handling that is being performed every day during this procedure. The EPD ensures a comfortable and relaxed flexed spine position for the patient while maintaining a stable position. Medical personnel recommend it for more than Thoracentesis including women in pain during labor, pain centers, and operating rooms. It also offers pain relief in the epidural as well as spinal relief.

The stand offers adjustable foot support to assist in patient positioning. It also has an adjustable mount for the epidural device that consists allows it to be attached directly to an operating table. The epidural chair reduces risk of errors, avoids accidents, improves patient comfort, and lowers injury risks to staff. These factors contribute to medical personnel satisfaction and patient outcomes. They are a comfortable and efficient option that guarantees the happiness of the sick and nursing staff.

epidural chair epidural safety