In operations on the arm or hand, a method called a plexus block is sometimes used for anesthesia. The technique involves a temporary paralysis of the arm and is usually performed by an anesthesiologist.
But when the anesthetists are booked up for other things, it creates longer care queues. So during the pandemic, the idea came to let the hand clinic’s own doctors learn to do certain plexus blockades.
– The patients feel that it is faster to get to surgery and that they are well taken care of, says Andersson.
The method occurs in clinics abroad, but has now come to Sweden and Umeå and the project has been going on for about a year.
Can focus on other tasks
– There was a slight concern that we were encroaching on other people’s areas of expertise. But overall, I think that they (the anesthetists) see this positively, partly that they are enough and can focus more on other, more advanced tasks, says Gustav Andersson.
– Our hand surgeons are incredibly skilled and we have so far used this way of working on roughly 35 patients, says Håkan Ritzén, head of department.
The new way of working is one of several advances in care and research in Umeå during the year – see more examples below.