As surgical practice moves toward ambulatory care, the need for new approaches to deliver optimal postoperative pain management has rapidly become the focus for all health care professionals. Orthopedic procedures in particular have been demonstrated to have significant pain associated with them. Some are challenging to manage with oral opioids and NSAIDS and may require admission to hospital for effective pain management. The role of regional anesthesia/analgesia in the perioperative management of orthopedic patients continues to evolve. One such development is the use of indwelling peri-peripheral and nerve plexus catheters to provide continuous analgesia and regional anesthesia. Recent research studies support the use of continuous nerve blocks for acute pain management with individuals who have been discharged from hospital. There is however, very little information in the literature that describes the development and implementation of an ambulatory regional anesthesia/analgesia program. Equally sparse in the literature is any measure of patient satisfaction with a regional block for pain management. The purpose of this poster is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a hospital-to-home based regional anesthesia/analgesia program. This process included assembling key interdisciplinary stakeholders, assessing feasibility, identifying needs of our target population, a review of the literature, and establishing links with community nurses. We have been successful in implementing an ambulatory regional anesthesia/analgesia program involving an interdisciplinary team that provides optimal pain management from hospital to home. Patient satisfaction data supports the efficacy and safety of this mode of pain management.
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