Starting epidural anesthesia in operating room can help patients get faster pain relief after surgery

Starting a patient-controlled epidural anesthesia (PCEA) infusion while the patient is still in the operating room (OR)-rather than in the recovery room after the procedure-may help provide better pain control, suggests research presented at the virtual American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Anesthesia Quality and Patient Safety Meeting.

An epidural involves placing a tiny tube called a catheter in the patient’s back to deliver pain medication. An epidural may be used during surgery or after surgery, especially for those that may result in a substantial amount of pain. If it is used following a surgery, the patient can self-administer the pain medicine as needed with the push of a button.

Several issues can delay the set-up of the epidural infusion once the patient arrives in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), including a lack of supplies or a busy pharmacy. To address these potential delays, researchers proposed a project to implement a new workflow to start epidural infusions in the OR.

“Effective pain management after surgery is a crucial issue in health care, and this streamlined approach for initiating epidural infusions in the OR reduces delays in the patient getting pain relief,” said Murphy Owens, M.D., a lead author of the study and anesthesiology resident at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York. “Additionally, research shows that using a PCEA can reduce patients’ need for opioids to manage their pain.”