Emergency physician performed ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia is an evolving field that offers many potential benefits in the emergency setting: Analgesia can be targeted specifically to the region of pain and provide relief for many hours, large volumes of local anesthetic can be avoided and there is also less need for general sedation without the increased morbidity to patients. In addition, by providing an alternative to procedural sedation, there seems to be a decreased ED-length of stay, shortened post-procedure observation periods with reduced need for ED-nursing care, and high patient satisfaction
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