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Regional Anaesthesia

Clinical Curriculum

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust,  is a busy tertiary-care centre specialising in major orthopaedic surgery of the upper and lower limb, hand surgery, and spine surgery, among other things. Regional anaesthesia is provided under the supervision of experienced regional anaesthetists. Fellows will gain experience in a variety of regional anaesthesia techniques including all the common approaches to brachial plexus blocks, blocks for foot and ankle surgery, blocks for total joint replacement surgery, and blocks for sport-related surgical procedures.

Fellows can also participate in the Acute Pain Service rotation at the different sites and non-regional anaesthesia cases during the training year. The Acute Pain Service manages approximately numerous patients per year including some referrals with challenging chronic and cancer pain.

Outside of the work in the theatre suite, Fellows will also provide clinical anaesthesia care for a range of inpatient and ambulatory adult surgical cases including, but not limited to, orthopaedics, general surgery, cancer surgery, transplant surgery, and urology. Fellows will also be actively involved in the pre-operative assessment and counselling of patients undergoing planned regional anaesthetic procedures.

On-Call Duties

Fellows will participate in general emergency on-call duties at a frequency of approximately 1 in 8.

Research

Regional anaesthesia Fellows at the NOC are expected to actively participate in academic, research, and educational activities. Over the course of the year, up to 20% of working days may be allocated as academic time for this purpose. Examples of academic activities that Fellows are involved in include the design of new research projects, conduct of ongoing clinical research, data analysis and writing of scientific papers.

Education

Regular Morbidity and Mortality meetings are held at the departmental level throughout the year which will include case discussions and didactic presentations. Fellows are expected to participate in these rounds to gain experience in presentation and teaching. Fellows are also expected to take an active role in resident education in regional anaesthesia. There are opportunities for assisting as faculty at regional anaesthesia workshops organised by the Regional Anaesthesia group at OUH.