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Moral injury in clinical and academic medicine—it is time to act

When doctors working within healthcare systems under pressure perpetrate, witness, or fail to prevent acts that contradict their own moral or ethical values and expectations, it can lead to moral distress or moral injury. This can result from active behaviour and from purposeful inactive behaviour. It is a growing and critical concern, representing significant distress that extends far beyond traditional concepts such as burnout. This article discusses moral injury in clinical and academic medicine and actively gives suggestions to prevent and address moral injury. 

Working together for perioperative excellence in pediatric perioperative research

Pediatric perioperative care can be described as a journey, starting when surgery is first contemplated, all the way through to a patient’s full recovery. For the child and their family, this journey spans from the time at home pre-operatively through a hospital stay and finishes with at-home recovery.

The impact of social determinants of health on paediatric perioperative adverse events - a narrative review

The social determinants of health, as described by the World Health Organisation (WHO), are 'the non-medical factors' that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life. According to the WHO, social determinants of health account for between 30-55% of health outcomes, and children can be particularly vulnerable to their impacts. 

Performance of published scoring tools for predicting the risk of perioperative respiratory adverse events in children - An evaluation in a large paediatric cohort

Perioperative respiratory adverse events (PRAE) are a main cause of morbidity and mortality in paediatric anaesthesia. Clinicians need to be able to predict their patients' risk of PRAE to plan their care. Clinical risk prediction tools have been developed to assist with pre-operative risk stratification; however, validation outside the contexts of their development is limited. In this study, we test the ability of common risk prediction tools to identify patients at high risk of PRAE in general anaesthesia.

Children's Anxiety in the Perioperative Environment: A Qualitative Exploration With Children, Parents and Staff at a Tertiary Paediatric Hospital

Perioperative anxiety is a common and distressing aspect of anaesthesia for many children, resulting in management challenges at the time of anaesthesia and potential physical and psychological adverse outcomes. We conducted this qualitative phenomenological study to explore the perspectives of children, parents and staff on perioperative anxiety in our institution. Planned recruitment was 20 each of children who had undergone elective anaesthesia, their parents and staff. 

Current Practices and Priorities of Anesthetists and Consumers for Infants Undergoing Inguinal Hernia Surgery

There is a paucity of data on the chosen anesthesia management for infant inguinal hernia surgery. We aimed to characterize self-reported anesthetic practice in Australia and New Zealand. We also aimed to identify the outcomes that matter to both anesthetists and to parents and carers.

Impact of pediatric anesthesia management on cancer outcomes in children—a narrative review

The relationship between anesthetic technique and pediatric oncological outcomes is an emerging field of interest. With significant improvements in childhood cancer survival in recent decades, there is an increased focus on optimizing the quality of survival and reducing the incidence of metastasis and recurrence. The aim of this narrative review article is to investigate and consolidate the current available evidence assessing the immunomodulatory effects of anesthesia in the pediatric oncology population.

Pediatric Endotracheal Tube Cuff Management at Altitude: Implications for Aeromedical Retrieval and Other Austere Environments

Children are sometimes transported via fixed or rotary wing aircraft for medical care. If they are intubated with a cuffed endotracheal tube (ETT), changes in environmental pressure during transport can alter cuff pressure. Cuff management in this setting varies widely by region and by organization. In this historical review, we sought to delineate the evolution of ETT cuff management in children undergoing aeromedical retrieval in order to progress the field toward an optimum strategy in the future. 

Impact of honey on post-tonsillectomy pain in children (BEE PAIN FREE Trial): a multicentre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial*

Tonsillectomy, a common childhood surgery, is associated with difficult postoperative recovery. Previous reviews provided low-grade evidence that honey may improve recovery. The BEE PAIN FREE study investigated whether honey alongside multimodal analgesia improved the recovery trajectory in children following tonsillectomy.

Incidence of cognitive errors in difficult airway management: an inference human factors study from the Pediatric Difficult Intubation Registry

Cognitive errors are known contributors to poor decision-making in healthcare. However, their incidence and extent of their contribution to negative outcomes during difficult airway management are unknown. We aimed to identify cognitive errors during paediatric difficult airway management using data from the Pediatric Difficult Intubation (PeDI) registry, to determine patient and clinician factors associated with these errors, and their contribution to complications.