option if your surgeon or patient request it, performing a nerve block
doesn't mean you must avoid general anesthesia. They often comple-
ment each other very nicely in that a "lighter" anesthetic may be
offered so that the patient is comfortable post-operatively, as well as
hemodynamically stable and "well behaved" for the surgeon intraoper-
atively.
19. Patients will call me after hours. Don't worry about giving
patients your cell phone number. You really do get a lot fewer calls
than you'd expect — and even the ones that do call are so very appre-
ciative and non-intrusive you're grateful to have been able to help. On
the flip side, if there is a patient with a serious issue, it's in the best
interest to us as their primary providers to know what is going on.
Giving patients a contact number from the anesthesia team gives
them a sense of reassurance that they need and delivers high patient
satisfaction scores.
20. Blocks will disable my patients post-operatively. Blocks
enable patients' recovery. You hear a lot about what you "cannot do"
with a nerve block after surgery, but what needs more light shed on it is
what blocks allow for and enable the patient to achieve post-operative-
ly. You can initiate aggressive physical therapy sooner, contributing to
better results and achieved strength and range of motion goals earlier
when blocks — and especially nerve block catheters — are in place.
OSM
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 5 9
Dr. Winchester (brandon@blockjocks.com) is the regional anesthesia fellowship
director at the Andrews Institute for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine in Gulf
Breeze, Fla., and the co-founder of the ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia edu-
cation website, blockjocks.com. Ms. Winchester (blocknursing@gmail.com) is
director of the Blockjocks Research & Education Foundation and the founder of
blocknursing.com.
