Block Evaluation 2

March 19, 2012

DON’T MUDDY THE WATER

So, here you are in the PACU with a patient that just had a big surgery. The nurse called you here because the patient is hurting (“and I’m not sure your block is working, Doctor”). The patient is ‘mostly’ alert and says that they are hurting “over there”, pointing vaguely toward the general vicinity of the surgery. They’ve been given some IV opioid in the PACU before you arrived. So, Doctor, did your block work?

This can be a very frustrating and taxing moment. It is not an uncommon scenario, especially when new nerve blocks have been added to a program prior to adequate inservicing and education of the anesthetists in the O.R. and of the RN’s in the PACU. I’ll skip to the chase scene: You should not be in the PACU right now. There is likely more than enough information available to the anesthetist and the PACU RN to have determined the circumstances and initiated the proper plan of action (or inaction). I will not try to bite all of that off in today’s lesson.

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continuous nerve block, evaluation, nerve block, nerve block evaluation, patient evaluation, strategy

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