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Educating Anesthesia Providers on the Benefits of Pre-Incisional Transversus Abdominis Plane Blocks on Patients Undergoing Abdominal Procedures

Executive Summary
2025

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Description

Effective pain control is a critical component of high-quality anesthesia care. Poorly managed pain during the perioperative and postoperative periods can significantly impact patient outcomes, leading to delayed recovery, psychological distress, chronic pain development, and increased healthcare costs. Postoperative complications related to inadequate pain management can raise hospital expenses by as much as 175%. Additionally, patients cannot be safely discharged while experiencing unmanaged pain, resulting in further interventions and prolonged hospital stays. Regional anesthesia offers a unique and valuable approach to pain management by delivering local anesthetics directly to nerve fibers, providing targeted relief. This method can provide analgesia for up to 24 hours, promoting faster recovery, reducing reliance on systemic analgesics, and supporting earlier return to activities of daily living. One such technique, the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block, is used to block somatic pain signals from the abdominal wall during abdominal surgeries. This paper reviews current literature to evaluate the optimal timing of TAP block administration within an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol, with the goal of optimizing outcomes for adult patients undergoing abdominal procedures. TAP blocks, when administered pre-incision, demonstrate improved pain control when compared to post-incisional TAPs. Adoption of pre-incisional TAPs remains low due to variability in practice, production pressures, and knowledge deficits. Despite growing evidence supporting the benefits of pre-operative transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks, inconsistent implementation across anesthesia practices contributes to suboptimal pain control and continued reliance on opioids in abdominal surgery patients. This gap highlights the need for standardized protocols to promote earlier, opioid-sparing regional anesthesia interventions.
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Record Data:

Program :
  • CRNA
Location :
  • Knoxville
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