Authors

Melissa Cavada Fernández, Guadalupe García de Luis, Sandra Larrauri Cantero, María Sanz González, Carolina Zorrilla Varela, Mª Rosario Menéndez Ba

Position

Enfermeras del Área Quirúrgica del Hospital de Laredo (Cantabria).

Contact address

Melissa Cavada Fernández Hospital de Laredo. Avda. de los Derechos Humanos, s/n. 39770 Laredo (Cantabria).

Contact email: melca4@yahoo.es

Abstract

Local anesthetics are drugs widely used in the surgical area, in order to conduct anesthetic techniques during surgery as well as to provide higher­ comfort after the procedure. Even though these drugs are quite safe, they are not free of risks, and some adverse effects may appear, such as systemic toxicity.
The rate of presentation of this adverse effect in locoregional anesthesia­ has lowered significantly during the last thirty years; however, it is very important to identify it in its initial stages, and to be aware of its treatment, because there might be very severe consequences for patients if no fast actions are taken.
Therefore, given that the use of these drugs is very frequent, the objective of this paper is to help identify their causes, the acknowledgement of clinical signs of a systemic toxicity episode caused by local anesthetics (LA), since its most initial phases, and the therapeutic management of said adverse effect, as well as the action of nurses regarding collaboration for conducting peripheral nervous blockades, following the indications of the protocol for said procedure.

Keywords:

local anesthetics; systemic toxicity; adverse effects; lipid emulsions; Surgical Nursingpatient safety

Versión en Español

Título:

Actuación enfermera ante toxicidad sistémica por anestésicos locales