Review Article

Types of regional anesthesia in orthopedic surgery and the role of the nurse

Nickoletta Vassou

• Department of Rheumatology, General Hospital of Attica, “KAT”, Athens, Greece

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Keywords: Nurse’s role, Orthopedic surgery, Perioperative and postoperative care, Preoperative, Regional anesthesia

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Abstract

Anesthesia, and, more specifically, regional anesthesia which is the focus of this review, is the most commonly used method in orthopedic surgery and is considered a rather complicated and delicate procedure. Therefore, nurses working in the anesthesiology department are of great importance due to the services and support they provide to both doctors and patients, by facilitating the anesthesiologist during the procedure as well as by monitoring, treating and supporting the patient. Nonetheless, the role of these nurses is generally understudied in scientific research and needs further investigation. For the purpose of this review a variety of articles relevant to orthopedic surgery, regional anesthesia and the role of nurse working in anesthesiology departments were gathered and analyzed in order to highlight the importance of the services they provide, using empirical evidence.

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