Analysis of the level of consciousness related to the oxygen therapy in patients in anesthesia recovery period

Abstract

Analyze the level of consciousness by means of the Aldrete-Kroulik scale associated with the use of oxygen therapy at the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). It is a prospective and comparative study, with quantitative analysis. It was conducted in a big Federal Public Hospital, located in Belo Horizonte city. The sample was consisted of 60 subjects, separated between groups using and do not using oxygen therapy, aged between 18 and 64 years old, submitted to elective surgery, surgical site in upper torso, under general anesthesia, and with the American Society Anesthesiologists (ASA) status I or II. The most part of the patients were female, with 50 years old or older, classified as ASA II, under total intravenous anesthesia, and length of time of anesthesia over 240 minutes. In the analysis of the level of consciousness related to the use of oxygen therapy, it is noteworthy that the p-value (0.069) is significant at the 15 minutes of permanence in the PACU. A large number of patients from the group that received supplemental oxygen therapy showed improvement in the level of consciousness at the 15 minutes of permanence in the PACU. Team work is necessary to prevent patient's complications in anesthetic recovery period.