The role of the psychologist in the inpatient pain service: development and initial outcomes.

Aim: This article describes the development and initial evaluation of introducing a psychologist role within an adult inpatient pain service (IPS) in a large North West of England National Health Service (NHS) trust.

Background: The role of a psychologist in the management of outpatient chronic pain has been well documented, but their role within the IPS is less well described and rarely evaluated. We describe the development of a psychologist role within the team and initial service evaluation outcomes.

Effect of rectus sheath block vs. spinal anaesthesia on time-to-readiness for hospital discharge after trans-peritoneal hand-assisted laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy: A randomised trial.

Background: The role of spinal anaesthesia in patients having a transperitoneal hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy in an enhanced recovery setting has never been investigated.

Objective: We explored whether substituting a rectus sheath block (RSB) with spinal anaesthesia, as an adjunct to a general anaesthetic technique, influenced time-to-readiness for discharge in patients undergoing hand-assisted laparoscopic donor nephrectomy.

Design: Prospective randomised open blinded end-point (PROBE) study with two parallel groups.