The Impact of Intraoperative Nursing Care on Perioperative Complications During Wide-Awake Local Anesthesia Hand Surgery

PURPOSE: The wide-awake local anesthesia technique in hand surgery is widely used, but there are currently no guidelines or protocols for the number of operating room personnel required to optimize patient safety intraoperatively. This study aimed to evaluate perioperative complication rates of wide-awake local anesthesia hand surgeries performed at surgery centers that used different numbers of operating room nurses. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of patients who underwent wide-awake local anesthesia hand surgery at 4 surgical centers over a 30-month consecutive period. Two surgical centers used 3 operating room nurses, and 2 centers used 2 operating room nurses. The complications reported included intraoperative case abortion because of critical change in patient vitals, intraoperative medication delivery, intraoperative intravenous placement for medication delivery, intraoperative conversion to sedation, intraoperative medical complications, and postoperative transfer to the emergency department or a hospital. RESULTS: A total of 1,771 wide-awake local anesthesia surgical procedures were identified, with 925 performed at a facility that used 2 operating room nurses and 846 performed at a facility that used 3 operating room nurses. There were no perioperative complications in either group during the study period. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in perioperative complications between the surgery centers that used 3 versus 2 intraoperative nurses during wide-awake local anesthesia hand surgery. This study supports that limiting the nursing personnel for wide-awake local anesthesia hand surgeries could be an efficient way to cut procedural costs without compromising patient safety. TYPE OF STUDY/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic IV.