Factors associated with low levels of patient satisfaction following peripheral nerve block

Peripheral nerve blocks can provide surgical anaesthesia as well as excellent postoperative analgesia. When questioned postoperatively, however, some patients report low levels of satisfaction with their nerve block experience. At our hospital, patients undergoing regional anaesthesia have their patient characteristics, block characteristics and postoperative feedback routinely recorded in a block registry. We analysed data from 979 consecutive patients undergoing peripheral nerve block for orthopaedic surgery to identify factors associated with low levels of patient satisfaction. The primary outcome was patient satisfaction with their peripheral nerve block (scale 1–5: 4–5 is ‘satisfied’, 1–3 is ‘not satisfied’). Eighty-nine percent (871/979) of patients reported being ‘satisfied’ with their block. Factors negatively associated with patient satisfaction were rebound pain (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04 to 0.85 for moderate rebound pain; aOR 0.11, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.48 for severe rebound pain), discomfort during the block (aOR 0.37, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.82 for moderate discomfort; aOR 0.19, 95% CI 0.05 to 0.76 for severe discomfort) and pain in the post-anaesthesia care unit (aOR 0.30, 95% CI 0.17 to 0.55 for pain ≥8/10). Only 24% (26/108) of patients who reported being ‘not satisfied’ stated that they would be unwilling to undergo a hypothetical future nerve block. Rebound pain of at least moderate intensity, procedural discomfort of at least moderate intensity and severe pain in the post-anaesthesia care unit are all negatively associated with patient satisfaction. Of these factors, rebound pain occurs most frequently, being present in 52% (403/777) of our respondents.