Development of chronic postsurgical pain following major abdominal or pelvic surgeries is increasingly recognized. Multimodal analgesia including regional anesthesia such as rectus sheath block is growing in popularity. While the literature mainly describes ultrasound-guided rectus sheath blocks, there are many advantages to surgically-initiated rectus sheath catheter performed at the end of surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Free Open-Access Medical education (FOAM) use among residents continues to rise. However, it often lacks quality assurance processes and residents receive little guidance on quality assessment. The Academic Life in Emergency Medicine Approved Instructional Resources tool (AAT) was created for FOAM appraisal by and for expert educators and has demonstrated validity in this context.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPain control following major abdominal surgery remains a significant barrier to patient comfort. Although thoracic epidurals have been used to provide analgesia for these surgeries, the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block is gaining popularity. The TAP catheter insertion method has transformed over the past two decades from a blinded technique to one conducted primarily under ultrasound guidance by anesthesiologists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReg Anesth Pain Med
February 2018
Background And Objectives: In this study, we examined the consistency, rapidity, and reproducibility of the ABCDE technique for diaphragm identification. Operators using this method place the probe at the Anterior axillary line, watch for Breathing (lung sliding), and then move the probe Caudally to identify the Diaphragm for Examination.
Methods: A convenience sample of 100 patients was recruited from the preadmission clinic.