4 ms·
Why does the patient need to be restrained when they're anaesthetised?
by ogogmad 4y ago
Why does the patient need to be restrained when they're anaesthetised?
- CapstanRoller 4y agoEven with modern medicine, sedated patients sometimes perform involuntary movements resembling sleep myoclonus[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnic_jerk
- Arrath 4y agoI can jerk quite strongly when falling asleep, much to the annoyance of my girlfriend and, presumably, our dogs. I really wouldn't want to do the same when someone has a scalpel in my guts.
- boomboomsubban 4y agoThere is also always a risk of the patient waking up.
- PhasmaFelis 4y agoThe line between "so sedated you don't feel your guts being cut open" and "so sedated you stop breathing" is frighteningly thin and requires a constant, careful, measured supply of anesthetic. In modern surgeries, there is one guy who goes to school for years to do nothing but monitor the patient's vitals and adjust the flow accordingly. In al Quff's day, I imagine such reliable precision was difficult or impossible, and you'd rather err on the side of pain than death. Which is to say, there's a very real chance of your patient waking up mid-surgery and freaking the fuck out, and you want to be prepared for that.
- anigbrowl 4y agoI've woken up in surgery and though I didn't freak out (or feel much of anything), I still remember the look of horror on the anesthetist's face when he noticed.
- DoreenMichele 4y agoIf, however, the patient could not keep still because of the intensity of pain or because he is an infant or a child, and so on, he should be held in a fixed position by somebody else. They still do this with children -- for example: strap them down, give local anesthesia, apply stitches to a cut that needs to be stitched up.