Meta Analysis Of Thoracic Epidural Anesthesia - 1735 Words

The main idea of the current paper is to provide a well-constructed analysis of the article titled â€Å"Meta-analysis of thoracic epidural anesthesia versus general anesthesia for cardiac surgery† written by Svircevic, van Dijk, Nierich, Passier, Kalkman, van der Heijden, and Bax in 2011. In doing so, this author attempts to validate the overall quality of the research being presented and its applicability to the nurse anesthesia practice. Study Design The meta-analysis was hypothesis driven while research was being completed; this becomes evident when the researchers’ purpose is revealed. The article scrutinizes the differences within studies which reveals adverse cardiac surgery outcomes with regard to the combination of general anesthesia†¦show more content†¦Since the research is based on the peer-reviewed articles and previous studies, the risk bias assessment was conducted and the detailed description of the aspects included in the bias assessment was provided. The methodology description also includes the data extraction form and principal endpoints. Moreover, the discussion of the statistical method is included. At the same time, the methodology does not include the specific analysis of the methods covered in the 28 used research studies used. The research methodology includes the detailed analysis of the risk of bias evaluation. In an effort to reduce this risk the authors of the research used such criteria as â€Å"method of randomization; concealed treatment allocation; blinding during pre-, peri-, and post-operative care; blinded data collection and analysis; blinded adjudication of study endpoints; and completeness of (follow-up) data† (Svircevic et al., 2011, p. 273). It should be stated that the metaregression did not show any associations â€Å"between the study outcome and factors varying over the years of execution of the individual studies or risk of bias items for any of the outcomes† (Svircevic et al., 2011, p. 276). Although, the meta-analysis does point out that there is an elevated risk for