Anaesthesia
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Observational Study
An evaluation of factors influencing the assessment time in a nurse practitioner-led anaesthetic pre-operative assessment clinic.
Elective patients undergoing anaesthetic pre-operative assessment are usually allocated the same period of time with a nurse practitioner, leading to potential inefficiencies in patient flow through the clinic. We prospectively collected data on 8519 patients attending a pre-operative assessment clinic. The data set were split into derivation and validation cohorts. ⋯ Age, ASA physical status, nurse practitioner and surgical specialty all influenced the time spent in pre-operative assessment. The predictive equations calculated using the derivation cohort, based on age and ASA physical status, correctly estimated duration of consultation to within 20% of the maximum predicted time in 74.2% of the validation cohort. We conclude that if age and ASA physical status are known before the pre-operative assessment consultation, it could allow appointment times to be allocated more accurately.
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Observational Study
A new ultrasound-guided pubic approach for proximal obturator nerve block: clinical study and cadaver evaluation.
We evaluated an alternative technique for ultrasound-guided proximal level obturator nerve block that might facilitate needle visualisation using in-plane ultrasound guidance. Twenty patients undergoing transurethral bladder tumour resection requiring an obturator nerve block were enrolled into a prospective observational study. With the patient in the lithotomy position, the transducer was placed on the medial thigh along the extended line of the inguinal crease, and aimed cephalad to view a thick fascia between the pectineus and obturator externus muscles that contains the obturator nerve. ⋯ All blocks were successful. A cadaver evaluation demonstrated that the dye injected into the target fascia using our technique travelled retrogradely through the obturator canal, and surrounded the anterior and posterior branches of the obturator nerve both proximally and distally to the obturator canal. We believe that this is a promising new technique for ultrasound-guided proximal level obturator nerve block.