Highlights WOMEN’S ANESTHESIA
“Gentle C” Enhances Birthing Experience In effort to provide a more intimate birthing experience for women having a cesarean section, Duke Anesthesiology’s Women’s Anesthesia Division Jennifer E. Dominguez, launched a new initiaMD, MHS tive at Duke University Hospital at the beginning of this year called the “Gentle C.” Dr. Jennifer Dominguez says they wanted their patients undergoing C-sections to feel the same sense of intimacy during their delivery, and closeness with their birth partner and newborn baby, as women having vaginal deliveries. “The goal in developing this initiative was to provide both a sterile, surgical environment in which we can properly monitor the hemodynamics of the mother (such as heart rate, blood pressure and oxygenation) and maintain her safety while facilitating a warm, personalized birthing experience for mothers and their families.” Three highlights of this new patient-centered approach include: Bringing birth partners into the operating room as soon as possible during the C-section, well before the birth of the baby; Allowing patients to listen to the music of their choice during delivery to de-sterilize the operating environment; and Implementing the use of both an opaque drape to maintain a barrier during the surgical procedure and a new, clear drape that remains in place during delivery which allows women to actually watch their baby come out of their uterus before being placed directly onto their abdomen for immediate skin-to-skin bonding time. This division helps deliver more than 3,000 babies each year at Duke University Hospital. n 10
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DUKE ANESTHESIOLOGY
DIVISIONAL NEWS
COMMUNIT Y DIVISION
By the Numbers 10,341
9,094
Duke Regional Hospital
North Carolina Specialty Hospital
Davis Ambulatory Surgical Center
Mebane Surgery Center
4,967
2,874
34,579 TOTAL CASES Performed by Community Division Physician Anesthesiologists & CRNAs
4,500
Triangle Implant Center Triangle Orthopaedics Surgery Center 2,256 Duke Fertility Center 280 Michael Law MD Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 267
Annual Conference Positions Duke Anesthesiology as Premiere Education Destination For the first time in 18 years, Duke Anesthesiology brought its annual conference back home. The three-day conference, “Controversies in Madhav Swaminathan, Perioperative MediMD, FASE, FAHA cine,” kicked-off on September 9 at the prestigious Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club in Durham. In a one-on-one interview with one of the program directors, Dr. Madhav Swaminathan, he highlighted the four new changes at this year’s conference.
care professionals (HCPs), need to be more engaged in order to offer more meaningful care. Anesthesia providers are very well equipped to lead POM. Why is it important to discuss issues surrounding the management of patients undergoing surgery? We’ve been practicing in silos for years. When we start thinking of ourselves as leaders in POM, I think it’s important that we bring practitioners of various disciplines together to discuss all of these issues, which ultimately helps everyone understand their role in the context of the field.
How did the conference first come about and how has it evolved? Dr. Mark Newman, former department Why is perioperative medicine chairman and current president of Duke’s significant in today’s health care? Private Diagnostic Clinic, had a vision to Perioperative medicine (POM) encompass- establish Duke Anesthesiology as a prees the whole continuum of the surgical exmiere education destination, featuring perience, taking care of a patient’s disease providers of quality education in the field process from start to finish. We, as health of anesthesiology. In 1998, the focus was on cardiothoracic anesthesia and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), a niche field at the time. The conference focus evolved over the years into a perioperative brand, consistent with the changing pattern of perioperative health care in today’s medicine. The conference is more inclusive of other subspecialties, but still This year’s three-day conference drew in more than 120 attendees from all over retains the essential principle the United States as well as 20 industry sponsors. 39 faculty presenters from of being recognized as a high Duke, University College London and The Ohio State University took part in 33 highly-engaging lectures and debates, six panel discussions, and two workshops. quality educational experience.
