O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E |
rare. Still, our block nurses do a
tremendous job educating
patients about how blocks work,
what to expect during recovery
and how to operate pain pumps
once they're home.
The nurses review the block
procedure, discuss how continu-
ous catheters are placed,
describe what the sensation will
be like and show patients actual
pumps to demonstrate exactly
how boluses of the local anes-
thetic are delivered.
Recovery room nurses go over
the same information before
patients are discharged home.
We've also added a QR code to
patients' discharge sheets, which
they can scan with smartphones
to watch a short educational video
we produced, showing one of our
nurses reviewing the discharge
instructions.
Patients are sent home with
pumps attached but inactive,
because they still feel the numb-
ing effects of the single-shot block
delivered before surgery. We tell
them to activate the pump before
R E G I O N A L B L O C K S
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