Anesthesia and resuscitation

Main anesthesia and sedation techniques:

  • General anesthesia
  • Regional loco anesthesia: central and peripheral blocks
  • Partoanalgesia
  • Postoperative pain therapy
  • Deep sedation activities for invasive diagnostic gastroenterology and medically assisted procreation techniques.

Useful numbers

Head nurse
Saida Kraich
Tel. +39 050 586404

Performance and therapy


  • General anesthesia. It is induced through the use of hypnotic and analgesic drugs administered intravenously, followed by maintenance by inhaled or intravenous drugs. Often patients under general anesthesia are immobilized with muscle relaxant drugs and thus require full respiratory function support via artificial ventilators. At the end of surgery, the action of these drugs is antagonized and anesthesia relieved until the patient fully recovers his or her ventilatory autonomy. Patients are then transferred to an awakening area, from where they are discharged to return to the ward at the time of complete recovery of consciousness and cardiorespiratory homeostasis.
  • Loco-regional anesthesia. There are many techniques of loco-regional anesthesia. The most commonly used are spinal anesthesia and epidural anesthesia. These techniques involve injection of local anesthetics within the dural sac or into the epidural space with blockage of nerve fibers carrying painful information from the periphery to the central nervous system. Spinal and epidural anesthesia are performed individually for limb or lower abdominal surgeries, while for upper abdominal surgeries they are routinely combined with sedation for patient comfort. Generally, epidural anesthesia involves the placement of a catheter that allows local anesthetics and analgesics to be infused for the first few days after surgery, optimizing pain control and thus the patient’s functional recovery after surgery.
  • Peripheral blocks. It is a technique used for orthopedic procedures involving the extremities.
  • Local anesthesia. Instead, many surgical procedures, such as eye surgeries or outpatient surgeries, are performed with local anesthesia by direct infiltration of anesthetic mixtures at the site of injury. Usually more or less deep sedation is combined to give better results.

Surgery is always accompanied by pain both at the wound site and in areas distant from the wound.

Treating acute postoperative pain, in addition to ethical reasons, stems from the observation that it is accompanied by pathophysiological changes in organs and systems, which can expose the patient to various complications.
Such a service is therefore of paramount importance because reduces postoperative issues and accelerates the patient’s recovery, decreasing the days of hospitalization.

Adequate pain treatment cannot be achieved without the continuous patient monitoring and the close cooperation between medical and nursing staff.
The organizational model adopted by the Casa di Cura San Rossore involves cooperation between the following professional figures:

  • The anesthesiologist applies protocols, performs quality control, evaluates benefits and side effects, and assesses the patient’s pain.
  • Inpatient nurse: monitors vital parameters, administers therapy and detects the extent of pain.

Childbirth pain is very intense: treating the pain of labor can help not only to improve the quality of life of the mother-to-be, but also to reduce the effects that the pain itself causes on the maternal-fetal unit.
Birth is divided into three moments, referred to as the dilatative phase, expulsive phase, and secondment phase. The accompanying pain can be described as biphasic. The dilatational phase is characterized by intermittent, poorly localized pain that is synchronous with uterine contractions and increases as the cervix dilates.
As labor progresses, the expulsive phase approaches, and the presented part descends, the pain becomes more localized and more intense: the patient feels it in the pelvic, vaginal, and perineal sites.
The purpose of epidural analgesia is to take away the painful sensation;
Epidural puncture, performed at the lumbar intervertebral level, can be performed in any consenting patient in whom there are no clinical contraindications.
The anesthesiologist positions the epidural catheter and begins administration of medication: contractions will gradually appear less painful until they are felt as a sense of pressure.
Pain reduction does not imply muscle paralysis, so the woman can move and walk.
The epidural catheter can be leveraged to give epidural anesthesia for an eventual cesarean section, administering a more concentrated dose of anesthetic drug.

It has 3 operating room and a delivery room dotted of anesthesia equipment with automatic ventilation system and continuous cardiovascular and respiratory monitoring, anarea for awakening and preparing the patient.

MAIN TREATMENTS

  • Intensive treatment of critical patients, in particular:
    • Treatment of respiratory failure;
    • Treatment of cardiovascular failure (septic, hypovolemic and cardiogenic shock);
    • Pharmacological/dialytic treatment of acute renal failure associated with cardiovascular, respiratory, or septic conditions;
  • Intensive vital function monitoring of surgical and post-surgical patients
  • Assisting/sitting at the Conventional Radiology Service (assisting during the introduction of contrast medium in allergic patients)
  • Care/seating at the Endoscopy Service

The Anesthesia Service uses treatment protocols based on major national and international guidelines.

Features:

4 inpatient beds equipped for complete hemodynamic monitoring, with mechanical respiratory assistance system capable of providing various forms of ventilation and infusion pump systems to precisely administer drugs and nutrients.