Near Remote Method to Guide Performance of Regional Anesthesia

Ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia/analgesia techniques (herein referred to simply as 'regional blocks') have gained popularity as they can reduce, and sometimes even eliminate, the need for opiate analgesics (and, consequently, their side effects), thereby improving patient safety, reducing length of hospital stay and medical costs, and improving patient satisfaction. However, a major barrier to mainstream uptake of such techniques relates to training. These techniques require the acquisition of new skills under expert guidance, which is often not possible given the daily time-sensitive and competing demands placed upon anesthesiologists. Furthermore, staff shortages and increasing demands caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have limited expert availability for one-on-one guidance even more. As a result, many opportunities for providing regional analgesia may be missed or performed in the absence of expert guidance.

Currently, expert staff regional anesthesiologists would ideally be available to supervise regional blocks. In clinical practice, however, if no staff regional anesthesiologist is available to supervise, senior anesthesia residents (post-graduate years 3 to 5) will often proceed with performing lower-risk blocks (e.g., adductor canal blocks) independently provided they feel confident and comfortable with the technique. If, however, the senior anesthesia resident is not comfortable with performing a higher-risk block without supervision, the patient would likely then receive general anesthesia combined with a multimodal analgesic regimen for perioperative pain control.

The purpose of the current study is to implement a new real-time 'near-remote' guidance method, in which trainees who are to perform regional blocks can do so via tele-mentoring under expert guidance. This will be done using an ultrasound-linked iPad which is a novel technology whereby the high-resolution ultrasound image is concurrently displayed on an iPad screen (for the block operator/trainee) as well as on the (near remotely supervising) expert mentor's smartphone. The expert mentor will either be at a distance in the same room or in an adjacent room, but readily available to intervene quickly if necessary. Trainees and mentors will use this method to perform various standard of care regional blocks on patients, either prior to elective surgical procedures or in the emergency department in the context of trauma injuries. All regional blocks will be as per standard of care, except they will be performed under expert 'near-remote' guidance.

Following the regional block performed via tele-mentored expert-guidance, both the trainee and mentor will complete a questionnaire pertaining to that particular block. Questionnaires will be completed electronically via Qualtrics. Block success will also be assessed (i.e., sensory block to ice within 30 min following block performance, as per standard of care) and documented. Towards the end of the study, voluntary focus group sessions will be held, during which trainees and mentors will have the opportunity to provide feedback regarding the newly implemented teaching and learning method. Thematic analyses will then be conducted.

Success with the current study may lay the groundwork for future research investigations to examine the feasibility of guiding such blocks by more remote methods (i.e., with the expert more than a few feet away).