ABA Technology & Digital Tools 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which feature of an Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS) most directly reduces medication errors during intraoperative care?
- Automated drug dose range checking with alerts (Correct answer)
- Color-coded anesthesia record templates
- Integration with hospital billing software
- Automatic case scheduling from OR management systems
Correct answer: Automated drug dose range checking with alerts
Automated dose range checking in AIMS flags orders outside safe limits in real time, directly intercepting potential medication errors.
Question 2: In target-controlled infusion (TCI) systems for propofol, which pharmacokinetic model is most commonly used in adults?
- Marsh model (Correct answer)
- Minto model
- Schnider model
- Eleveld model
Correct answer: Marsh model
The Marsh model is the most widely implemented TCI model for propofol in clinical systems, though the Schnider model is also common.
Question 3: A closed-loop anesthesia delivery system uses which type of feedback signal to adjust propofol infusion rate?
- Processed EEG depth-of-anesthesia index (Correct answer)
- End-tidal CO2 values
- Invasive arterial blood pressure
- Neuromuscular train-of-four ratio
Correct answer: Processed EEG depth-of-anesthesia index
Closed-loop propofol systems use processed EEG indices (e.g., BIS or entropy) as the feedback variable to titrate infusion rate.
Question 4: Which standard governs interoperability of medical device data with electronic health records in the United States?
- HL7 FHIR (Correct answer)
- DICOM
- ICD-10-PCS
- CPT-4
Correct answer: HL7 FHIR
HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is the primary US standard enabling medical device data exchange with EHR systems.
Question 5: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for gastric assessment before emergency surgery primarily evaluates:
- Antral cross-sectional area to estimate gastric volume (Correct answer)
- Pyloric valve opening velocity
- Fundal wall thickness for distension
- Duodenal filling time after water ingestion
Correct answer: Antral cross-sectional area to estimate gastric volume
Gastric antral CSA measured by POCUS correlates with gastric volume and helps assess aspiration risk before emergency procedures.
Question 6: Alarm fatigue in the ICU and OR is best mitigated by which technology strategy?
- Implementing smart alarm algorithms that filter non-actionable alerts (Correct answer)
- Increasing the volume of all monitor alarms
- Displaying more physiologic parameters simultaneously
- Disabling secondary backup alarms
Correct answer: Implementing smart alarm algorithms that filter non-actionable alerts
Smart alarm filtering and customized thresholds reduce the proportion of clinically irrelevant alarms, decreasing alarm fatigue without masking true events.
Question 7: Which intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring modality uses transcranial electrical stimulation to assess motor tract integrity?
- Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) (Correct answer)
- Somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs)
- Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Electromyography (EMG)
Correct answer: Motor evoked potentials (MEPs)
MEPs are generated by transcranial electrical stimulation of motor cortex and recorded from limb muscles to monitor corticospinal tract integrity.
ABA Technology & Digital Tools 2
Which feature of an Anesthesia Information Management System (AIMS) most directly reduces medication errors during intraoperative care?