A model of community based, preadmission management for elective surgical patients Pm-po~: This paper outlines the process of preadmission elective surgical preparation utilised at our institution. Methods:The process commences with a health status questionnaire sent to all patients. Based on the results of the questionnaire all elective surgical patients are then triaged: (i) to be assessed by an appropriately accredited general pract~'oner (45% of elective surgical patients) and subsequently attend preadmission clinic; (ii) to be seen by an anaesthetist (25%) and also be preadmitted at this visit or (iii) to go directly to preadmission clinic

A 50-year-old woman ASA 2 underwent carbon dioxide hysteroscopy under general anaesthesia. Monitoring showed a sudden and rapid fall in end-tidal carbon dioxide followed by oxygen desaturation. She became pulseless and cyanosed. Resuscitation with oxygen, intravenous adrenaline and head-down tilt restored her to haemodynamic stability. Hyperbaric therapy was also administered as air embolism could not be excluded.

A regimen of morphine, paracetamol and aspirin administered orally was evaluated in 20 patients following Caesarean section; 18 of 20 reported no or mild impairment in their ability to care for their babies. There was a high level of satisfaction with 18 of 20 being very satisfied with their postoperative analgesia. There was a low incidence of side-effects with this regimen. It was acceptable to both patients and staff.

ErratumEisen LB, Fisher JA. Cost of soda lime (Correspondence). Can J Anaesth 1993; 40: 81-3.Please note that the following material was incorrectly displayed, the amendments are underlined:The cost of soda lime as a function of flow is therefore; CS (cents) = 1.965 ~'co2 q~l -V) = -1.965 ---=-TF + 1.965 "v'co2 T Note that for F _> V, no soda lime is needed, so CS Converting Dr. Dion's equation for halothane cost from dollars to cents, we obtain the cost of halothane (Ctt) as a function of fresh gas flow, where P is the vaporizer concentration of halothane in percent:Also, in the captions for Figures 1 and 2 the symbols for "minute ventilation" should appear as (V).

The effectiveness of fentanyl and ketorolac in providing analgesia for day-case gynaecological procedures was evaluated in 55 healthy volunteers in a single blinded fashion. Fentanyl (1 mcg/kg iv) and ketorolac (30 mg im) were administered immediately following induction of anaesthesia. Anaesthesia was standardized with propofol, nitrous oxide and enflurane. Outcome variables assessed were pain, additional analgesic requirements, and incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting. All variables were recorded at 15 minutes, 2 hours and 24 hours postoperatively. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups with respect to any of the measured variables. Both drugs were ineffective as sole analgesic agents in half of their respective groups. It may be that a combination of these drugs, providing a multireceptor approach to analgesia, will prove to be more effective.