they shared their advice for ensuring that it remains effective, effi-
cient, safe and possibly even profitable every time.
The case for regional
Nothing slams the brakes on ambulatory surgery's much-touted effi-
ciency like a patient that you can't discharge on time. Post-op drowsi-
ness, nausea and vomiting — from the general anesthesia that
patients received in the OR or from the narcotics you administered in
PACU to manage their lingering pain — have an adverse impact on
throughput, staffing and case costs. They don't do much for patient
satisfaction, either.
The ability of regional anesthesia techniques to target the surgical
site with few side effects and to preemptively and reliably treat
patients' post-op pain, in PACU and even for the first several days of
recovery, seems nothing short of miraculous. The Kenwood Surgery
Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, has put them to good effect.
"Ninety-five percent of our foot and ankle patients receive peripher-
al nerve blocks in the pre-op area," says Carol Wenzel, RN, the cen-
ter's director of nursing. "These patients receive less narcotics intra-
operatively
and post-
operatively.
Most patients
leave the cen-
ter without
receiving any
pain medica-
tion in the
immediate
post-op
7 6
O U T P A T 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 | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 5
z THE VIEW FROM HERE Ultrasound guidance increases the
accuracy and effectiveness of regional anesthesia injections.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
