J U LY 2 0 1 6 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 4 5
closely mimic the ease of placing sin-
gle-shot blocks. "The catheter is on the
outside, so you don't have to tack the
catheter into the nerve like in other sys-
tems," he explains. "It cuts down on the
time needed to place the block. I think
it will eventually become clearer that
the single-step technique is an improve-
ment over the 2-step one."
3. Improved pain pumps
Pain pumps have undergone a
makeover in recent years to make them
more precise and to give patients more
control over their pain management. Two popular features in newer pumps are
patient-controlled bolus delivery and patient-controlled infusion rate. The bolus
gives patients an extra dose of local anesthetic to cope with breakthrough pain,
while dial-a-flow pain pumps let patients adjust the amount of anesthetic within
a certain range as they recover, says Mr. Rigdon. Only 12% of our survey respon-
dents use either of these options.
One of those is Jillanea Winchester, BSN, clinical supervisor at the Advanced
Family Surgery Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., who says her center uses pumps that
let patients control the flow rate. She says providers can use the pumps to titrate
the flow of medication to better manage a patient's pain, and even direct patients
to "self-bolus" by temporarily increasing the infusion rate to provide break-
through pain relief.
While both elastomeric and electronic pumps offer these features, experts
say that neither is clearly better than the other. Instead, you should focus on
finding a pump that fits in best with your patient demographics and staffing
• CAREFUL PLACEMENT Catheter systems and ultrasound guid-
ance pinpoint the delivery of analgesia.
Jillanea
Winchester,
BSN
