acquisition of skill
are at the foundation
of a successful nerve
block program.
"Make sure your
anesthesia group has
been properly trained
to perform these
blocks," says Angie
Reynolds, RN, nurse
administrator at
NorthWest Plaza
Ambulatory Surgery
Center in Albany, Ga.
Providers who have
your outpatient effi-
ciency interests in
mind should be prac-
ticing regional tech-
niques or at least open to educating themselves. If they're not, seek
out a service whose staffers are. Fellowship training through the
American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (asra.com)
is one sign of experience.
In addition to training, the ideal providers will be frequently putting
the techniques into practice. "You need to have anesthesiologists that
routinely give the regional anesthesia," says Karen E. Sullivan, RN,
BSN, assistant nurse manager at the Marymount Ambulatory Surgery
Center in Garfield Heights, Ohio. "Our biggest challenge is when an
anesthesiologist comes to help out at our facility who does not rou-
tinely do these procedures, and as a result we have block failures."
8 0
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 JOINT EFFORT Timing, staffing and space to
work make regional anesthesia an efficient process.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
