Phases Of General Anesthesia
Daniel Saulog
San Joaquin Valley College
Abstract
In order for a patient to undergo a controlled and reversible loss of consciousness during surgery, it’s necessary for them to go through all four phases of general anesthesia. The induction phase is important to get things started, because it’s when the patient losses consciousness with the aid of anesthetic agents. After that the maintenance phase occurs, which is a very dynamic phase in regards to the anesthetic agents being induced, it’s where a lot of maintenance of the patient is required since the surgery is taking place. Following the surgery the patient will undergo the emergence phase where the patient will start to gain consciousness, …show more content…
According to Frey K. B., & Ross, T. (2014), “ General anesthesia involves an alteration in patient’s perception of their environment through alterations in their level of consciousness” (p. 231). To achieve these levels of consciousness, the patient must undergo the four phases of general anesthesia. The first phase called induction, indicates that the patient must first lose consciousness through the use of an anesthetic agent. The second phase, also known as the maintenance phase occurs when the patient is receiving surgical treatment. Following the end of the surgery is the emergence phase, and the main goal here is to have the patient as awake as possible. Finally when the patient returns to normal consciousness and is ready to be discharged, they are in the process of the recovery phase, which is the last phase of general …show more content…
This is achieved through anesthetic agents that are administered through an IV or by inhalation (Newman T., 2016). Common anesthesia medications are propofol, etomidate, or a barbiturate, which are considered a hypnotic drug since they cause the patient to be sedated (Brown, E. N., Lydic, R., & Schiff, N. D., n.d.). Due to the patient’s loss of consciousness they may undergo some serious ricks such as depressed reflexes, respiratory depression, and an inadequate airway. In this induction phase, the risk of aspiration is high. This is due to the fact that the patient was induced with relaxing agents and neuromuscular blocks on their cardioesophageal sphincter, which allows gastric content to pass through the esophagus. To prevent these risks from occurring, management of the patient’s airway is vital to keep them safe. Maintenance of the patient’s airway is facilitated by the use of items such as a facemask, laryngeal mask airway, or an endotracheal tube (Frey K. B., & Ross, T., 2014, p. 231). Besides using the items listed above, aspiration can also be reduced by using cricoid pressure on the
Daniel Saulog
San Joaquin Valley College
Abstract
In order for a patient to undergo a controlled and reversible loss of consciousness during surgery, it’s necessary for them to go through all four phases of general anesthesia. The induction phase is important to get things started, because it’s when the patient losses consciousness with the aid of anesthetic agents. After that the maintenance phase occurs, which is a very dynamic phase in regards to the anesthetic agents being induced, it’s where a lot of maintenance of the patient is required since the surgery is taking place. Following the surgery the patient will undergo the emergence phase where the patient will start to gain consciousness, …show more content…
According to Frey K. B., & Ross, T. (2014), “ General anesthesia involves an alteration in patient’s perception of their environment through alterations in their level of consciousness” (p. 231). To achieve these levels of consciousness, the patient must undergo the four phases of general anesthesia. The first phase called induction, indicates that the patient must first lose consciousness through the use of an anesthetic agent. The second phase, also known as the maintenance phase occurs when the patient is receiving surgical treatment. Following the end of the surgery is the emergence phase, and the main goal here is to have the patient as awake as possible. Finally when the patient returns to normal consciousness and is ready to be discharged, they are in the process of the recovery phase, which is the last phase of general …show more content…
This is achieved through anesthetic agents that are administered through an IV or by inhalation (Newman T., 2016). Common anesthesia medications are propofol, etomidate, or a barbiturate, which are considered a hypnotic drug since they cause the patient to be sedated (Brown, E. N., Lydic, R., & Schiff, N. D., n.d.). Due to the patient’s loss of consciousness they may undergo some serious ricks such as depressed reflexes, respiratory depression, and an inadequate airway. In this induction phase, the risk of aspiration is high. This is due to the fact that the patient was induced with relaxing agents and neuromuscular blocks on their cardioesophageal sphincter, which allows gastric content to pass through the esophagus. To prevent these risks from occurring, management of the patient’s airway is vital to keep them safe. Maintenance of the patient’s airway is facilitated by the use of items such as a facemask, laryngeal mask airway, or an endotracheal tube (Frey K. B., & Ross, T., 2014, p. 231). Besides using the items listed above, aspiration can also be reduced by using cricoid pressure on the