A Swiss nationwide survey shows that dual guidance is the preferred approach for peripheral nerve blocks

Figures

• 

  Figure 1. Participants’ self-assessment of their own expertise in the use of peripheral nerve blocks. (A) Correlation between expertise and the number of blocks that the participants performed per week. (B) Correlation between expertise and the number of different block techniques performed by the anesthesiologists. (C) Correlation between expertise and the participants’ experience in anesthesiology in years.

• 

  Figure 2. Nerve blocks performed by Swiss anesthesiologists. The figure shows the different types of peripheral nerve block techniques that survey participants were capable of using, broken down by upper limb, lower limb, abdominal, thoracic, and head and neck blocks.

• 

  Figure 3. Monitoring and precautions. (A) Monitoring and precautions used by anesthesiologists in combination with blocks. (B) Sterile barrier precautions for peripheral nerve blocks with single injections. (C) Sterile barrier precautions for catheter techniques.

• 

  Figure 4. Methods used for peripheral nerve block performance. (A) Methods that anesthesiologists reported using for peripheral nerve localization. (B) The most frequent use of electrical nerve stimulation. (C) Minimal current thresholds (with 0.1 ms impulse duration) normally used by the participants. (x) = participants did not use nerve stimulation. (D) Devices for injection pressure monitoring or injection pressure limitation used during peripheral nerve block performance. (E) Other methods used by the participants for peripheral block performance.

• 

  Figure 5. Sedation, analgesia, and anesthesia during peripheral block performance. The figure displays the use of sedation, analgesia and anesthesia in adults during the performance of perineural blocks (with the needle tip in close proximity to a target nerve) (A) and during field blocks (B). Participants with pediatric experience reported their use of sedation, analgesia and anesthesia in children (0–16 years) during the performance of perineural blocks (C) and during field blocks (D).