ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There are logistical and financial advantages to undertaking shoulder surgery in a day case setting. However, this approach is limited by postoperative pain being inadequately controlled by oral medication alone. We describe a pilot study investigating the feasibility and acceptance of community based continuous interscalene brachial plexus blockade (CIBPB) to provide effective analgesia for day case shoulder surgery. METHODS: Phase 1 consisted of five patients who received CIBPB for shoulder surgery. Following an overnight hospital stay they were assessed for discharge home with the interscalene catheter in situ. Once the safety and feasibility of the approach was documented, five more patients were recruited to Phase 2. These patients had the adequacy of analgesia assessed in the postoperative period and were discharged home on the same day as surgery. A district nurse visited twice daily and removed the catheter on the third day. Patient satisfaction was assessed using a discovery interview. RESULTS: Nine of the 10 patients experienced good analgesia. One patient was re-admitted because the catheter fell out. No patient experienced complications and the discovery interviews showed that the patients were satisfied with their management and pleased to be treated as a day case. CONCLUSIONS: POSSI proved that it was feasible to manage these patients in the community with support and training of the district nurses. Although extra community nursing hours are required, this technique has the potential for significant cost benefits with at least three bed days saved per patient.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Surgical Procedures , Home Care Services, Hospital-Based/organization & administration , Nerve Block/methods , Pain, Postoperative/therapy , Shoulder Joint/surgery , Adult , Aged , Brachial Plexus , Community Health Nursing/organization & administration , England , Feasibility Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Care Team/organization & administration , Patient Satisfaction , Pilot ProjectsABSTRACT
Major shoulder surgery can be extremely painful. Interscalene brachial plexus catheters provide excellent postoperative analgesia but are technically difficult to place. A new insulated Tuohy needle system for plexus catheterisation is now available. This prospective study examined its ease of use and the postoperative analgesia produced by patient-controlled interscalene analgesia with ropivacaine 0.2%. Nineteen patients undergoing major shoulder surgery were studied. Interscalene brachial plexus blocks were performed using a modified Winnie technique with the insulated Tuohy needle and a nerve stimulator. After injection of ropivacaine 0.75% 30-40 ml into the plexus, a catheter was inserted. Block and catheter insertion times were recorded. All 19 patients had successful blocks and had catheters successfully threaded. Catheter infusions provided successful analgesia (visual analogue pain score < 5/10) in 18 patients, with one failure, giving a 95% success rate. Mean [range] catheter insertion time was 3.6 [1-10] min. Decreased block and catheter insertion times were associated with experience with the equipment when comparing the mean (SD) times for the first seven catheters and the last seven catheters inserted (12.1 (4.2) min vs. 7.9 (2.4) min), p < 0.05). It is concluded that the insulated Tuohy needle system for interscalene catheterisation proved easy to use in the hands of someone who had not used it before, and can be recommended.
