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Regional anaesthesia practices: insights from a European survey

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AUTHORS: Konijn, Arjan et al 

European Journal of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care 2(4):p e0026, August 2023.

BACKGROUND

The use of regional anaesthesia has increased and evolved over the past two decades but to what extent is unclear. Moreover, there is no clear standardisation of best practice in the current European landscape, which could result in inconsistencies in regional anaesthesia in practice.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this survey was to explore regional anaesthesia practices across Europe, including the differences in procedures, use of ultrasound, reporting of complications, guidelines, training and patient safety implementation.

DESIGN

A Faculty of European regional anaesthesia experts developed a survey of 27 questions focused on respondent and institution profile, anaesthesia services, patient and safety management, training, use of guidelines, and the implementation of NRFitTM [neuraxial device connectors that meet the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) requirements].

SETTINGS

The survey was disseminated across several European countries via professional networks.

PARTICIPANTS

There were 794 respondents from 36 European countries.

RESULTS

The survey demonstrated that use of regional anaesthesia is growing in Europe and is supported by new technologies. Although some results are consistent with expected trends and applications (e.g. procedures predominantly performed by anaesthesiologists), there are inconsistencies in practice across European countries, especially in the specific regional anaesthesia procedures utilised for different clinical applications and the recording and reporting of regional anaesthesia complications. These inconsistencies also extended to which guidelines are primarily followed and how training is implemented. There were also variations in the general awareness and uptake of the ISO standard for NRFit.

CONCLUSION

The survey results highlight a clear need for standardisation and consistency in the use and management of regional anaesthesia across Europe. The faculty put forth several calls to action that could provide major steps in the right direction towards meeting that goal, including the establishment of European best practices, development of a complication reporting system and implementation of educational programmes to highlight the importance of NRFit.

KEY POINTS

  • This European-wide survey aimed to understand the current landscape of regional anaesthesia practices and evaluate where regional anaesthesia might be headed.
  • The results demonstrated notable differences in practices, monitoring, and guideline usage, which could present barriers to implementing change.
  • Ensuring that the tools and information necessary to help improve regional anaesthesia are available and accessible is a step towards further advancement of regional anaesthesia across Europe.

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