Graduating CA-3s, How many peripheral blocks have you done?

[bluewater]

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I was talking with 1 of our Acute Pain Service attendings and he was trying to determine how many blocks we do on average versus other graduating residents.

Our averages
Operative blocks 200- 300
Pain blocks 100-150


Thanks

 

[drccw]

those are pretty good numbers.. when I graduated 3 years ago I had probably
50-60 interscalene
15 axillary
15 infraclavicular
40 femoral
40 sciatic

so not a ton of blocks but since I have been out I have done a lot of blocks.... I do sciatic and femoral nerve blocks (sometimes lumbar plexus) for all of the total joints (knees and hips). So typically 10-12 joints a week.... 20-25 blocks a week! I had never done a classical approach sciatic in residency but I read a lot about them and know it's my block of choice.
I typically give myself 3-5 minutes per block (including positioning) before I try something else or bag it. Yesterday I had a 5' tall, 280 lbs lady who needed a new knee (gee I wonder why!) I struggled with the sciatic (had trouble finding the PSIS) and nearly just bagged it but it took me about 10 minutes total...

so get good. get fast. i use nerve stim for everything.

 

[dhb]

Those are good numbers in 2.5 years i'm about at 150 blocks.

 

[Precedex]

We are struggling to get 40 by the end of residency!!

 

[cchoukal]

about 200 all told. maybe 50/50 u/s vs. no u/s...