Plan A

For those of you looking to integrate regional techniques into your routine practice, overcoming barriers to entry remains an integral hurdle for many practitioners. With each new week it seems another block is added to the potential armamentarium. It can be very overwhelming, even for experts. A recent editorial by Turbitt et al advocated that rather than focus on the latest and (maybe) greatest new blocks, it would make more sense to select a core set of relatively easy-to-learn, safe regional blocks that EVERYONE can integrate into their practice, not just the local block jocks.

Hence, Plan A blocks.

“By moving away from the concept of the ‘many blocks for the few’ to ‘a few blocks for the many’, regional anaesthesia can grow from a niche subspecialty to a core component of anaesthetic care available to all.”

Turbitt, L.R., Mariano, E.R. and El-Boghdadly, K., 2020. Future directions in regional anaesthesia: not just for the cognoscenti. Anaesthesia, 75(3), pp.293-297.