Current application status and attitude of depth of anesthesia monitoring devices in Chinese anesthesiologists

Abstract

Objective To understand the current status of application of depth of anesthesia (DoA) monitors used by anesthesiologists in China and evaluated its validity. Methods Chinese anesthesiologists who have been licensed as medical practitioners were selected as the research objects. A nationwide online survey was carried out by sending a WeChat survey form to 12 750 anesthesiologists during July and September 2020, and the data of DoA monitor usage and effectiveness were collected. Finally, 4 037 valid questionnaires were obtained. The survey data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software. The data were expressed as proportions with 95% confidence interval (CI), and Chi-square test was conducted for statistical analysis. Results ① Only 9.1% of anesthesiologists routinely used DoA monitors in clinical anesthesia. Anesthesiologists in teaching hospitals [proportion of very familiar: 30.3% (28.3%~32.3%)] and grade-A tertiary hospitals [proportion of very familiar: 28.8% (27.1%~30.6%)] were more familiar with DoA monitors than those in non-teaching hospitals [proportion of very familiar: 14.8% (13.2%~16.4%)] and non-grade-A tertiary hospitals [proportion of very familiar: 11.8% (10.1%~13.5%)], respectively. Among the participants, 65.4% of them considered that the 3 electroencephalogram parameters of DoA monitors were equally important, with the proportion of anesthesiologists in teaching hospitals [66.7%(64.7%~68.7%)] higher than that in non-teaching hospitals [64.1%(62.0%~66.2%)], though no statistical difference due to 95%CI overlapping. ② 96.5% of anesthesiologists believed that the DoA monitors could effectively monitor DoA. However, there was no significant difference in anesthesiologists' evaluation of the effectiveness of different DoA monitors. ③ Anesthesiologists with different titles believed that DoA monitors were indispensable for different general anesthesia methods, but statistical difference was seen in whether DoA monitors were required for general anesthesia preserving spontaneous respiration (P < 0.05). Conclusion The usage of DoA monitors in China is quite low. Different types of DoA monitors are effective for DoA monitoring and suitable for different general anesthesia methods, which are worthy of clinical application.

Keywords

• depth of anesthesia monitors
• anesthesiologists
• general anesthesia
• spontaneous respiration