Electroconvulsive Therapy Anesthesia Practice Patterns: Results of A UK Postal Survey

OBJECTIVE:To review anesthesia practice patterns associated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the UK. METHODS:A 12-item questionnaire survey on the practice of ECT anesthesia was sent to all units in the UK identified as providing ECT services. RESULTS:One hundred thirty active ECT units were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The journal of ECT Vol. 27; no. 1; pp. 81 - 85
Main Authors:	Bwalya, Godfrey M, Srinivasan, Venkatasubramanian, Wang, Michael
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Hagerstown, MD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc 01-03-2011 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Ovid Technologies
Subjects:	Anesthesia Anesthesia depending on type of surgery Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy Anesthesiology - trends Biological and medical sciences Compliance Electroconvulsive Therapy Hospitals Humans Medical sciences Neurosurgery Patient safety Postal Service Practice Patterns, Physicians' - trends Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychopathology. Psychiatry Surveys and Questionnaires Treatments United Kingdom United Kingdom Europe United Kingdom > UK Social environment Human Evaluation Electroconvulsive therapy anesthesia monitoring Mental health ECTAS guidelines ECT Accreditation Service (ECTAS) pre-ECT assessment Recommendation electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) Mail inquiry Treatment Anesthesia Accreditation Application method Public health
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Summary:	OBJECTIVE:To review anesthesia practice patterns associated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the UK. METHODS:A 12-item questionnaire survey on the practice of ECT anesthesia was sent to all units in the UK identified as providing ECT services. RESULTS:One hundred thirty active ECT units were identified. Sixty-six (51%) responded. Forty-five percent of respondents worked in units located within acute hospital boundaries and 53% outside acute hospital boundaries. Forty-seven percent of respondents were associated with units providing consultant anesthetic cover for 75-100% of ECT sessions. Twenty-seven percent of the units did not use capnography, 17% did not use continuous electrocardiography, and 16% did not use noninvasive blood pressure monitoring. LIMITATIONS:Results were entirely from respondents. No practices were directly observed. CONCLUSIONS:Although there is apparent widespread recognition of ECT Accreditation Service guidelines, compliance with recommended standards is variable. Given the typically high comorbidity of ECT patients, and indications of elevated anesthetic risk from non-UK studies, this has important implications for the safety of ECT anesthesia in the UK.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	1095-0680 1533-4112
DOI:	10.1097/YCT.0b013e3181df1d4f