Informed consent for regional anesthesia

This narrative review describes the current framework for informed consent discussions for regional anesthesia practice from an ethical and medicolegal stand point as the cornerstone of the patient-physician relationship and the respect for patient autonomy. Recent guidelines and position statements from anesthesia societies have emphasized the importance of these discussions and their appropriate documentation.

Recent studies have shown that patients want to know more about both common and benign, as well as rare but serious adverse events, as it relates to their anesthetic care. Several strategies have been recently recommended as a means to facilitate a meaningful consent discussion and proper documentation in the perioperative environment.

Defining the material risks of ultrasound-guided regional anesthetic procedures remains challenging, due in part to the difficulty in quantifying incidence rates of relatively rare events. However, well informed discussions are of great importance to support patient autonomy and lay a strong foundation for the patient-anesthesiologist relationship.