Analgesia for Ex Lap

     What do you do for analgesia for your Ex Lap cases? Typical responses that I get are ‘nothing’ or ‘sometimes an epidural.’ Have you ever followed their post-op experience? If you don’t put in an epidural, I’m sure you probably don’t end up doing that. In the past, those have been MY responses. Today, it is different…very different.

     There is a bit of coordination and infrastructure to this, but I have found the results to have been well worth the investment. I have been putting in subcostal TAP catheters for the last few months in for many “Ex Lap-type” cases after the surgeon closes the incision. I have absolutely kept some of these patients from remaining intubated and have kept several more out of the ICU. In fact, I have had some patients take zero opioids of any kind post-operatively. Do you know how much quicker recovery occurs with little or no pain and no opioid side-effects and no epidural side-effects? Want to feel like you’ve made a difference in somebody’s hospitalization? This is the kind of thing that makes you excited to come to work every day!

     Here are a few tips that may help if you are considering this course. …

 

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