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. 2022 May;47(5):301-308.
doi: 10.1136/rapm-2021-103136. Epub 2022 Feb 22.

Recommendations for effective documentation in regional anesthesia: an expert panel Delphi consensus project

Hassan M Ahmed  1 Benjamin P Atterton  2 Gillian G Crowe  2 Jaime L Barratta  3 Mark Johnson  4 Eugene Viscusi  3 Sanjib Adhikary  5 Eric Albrecht  6   7 Karen Boretsky  8 Jan Boublik  9 Dara S Breslin  10 Kelly Byrne  11 Alan Ch'ng  4 Alwin Chuan  12 Patrick Conroy  13 Craig Daniel  14 Andrzej Daszkiewicz  15 Alain Delbos  16 Dan Sebastian Dirzu  17 Dmytro Dmytriiev  18 Paul Fennessy  19 H Barrie J Fischer  20 Henry Frizelle  21 Jeff Gadsden  22 Philippe Gautier  23 Rajnish K Gupta  24 Yavuz Gürkan  25 Harold David Hardman  26 William Harrop-Griffiths  27 Peter Hebbard  28   29 Nadia Hernandez  30 Jakub Hlasny  31 Gabriella Iohom  32   33 Vivian H Y Ip  34 Christina L Jeng  35 Rebecca L Johnson  36 Hari Kalagara  37 Brian Kinirons  38 Andrew Kenneth Lansdown  39 Jody C Leng  40   41 Yean Chin Lim  42 Clara Lobo  43 Danielle B Ludwin  44 Alan James Robert Macfarlane  45   46 Anthony T Machi  47 Padraig Mahon  32 Stephen Mannion  48 David H McLeod  49 Peter Merjavy  50 Aleksejs Miscuks  51 Christopher H Mitchell  52 Eleni Moka  53 Peter Moran  38 Ann Ngui  4 Olga C Nin  54 Brian D O'Donnell  32 Amit Pawa  55   56 Anahi Perlas  57   58 Steven Porter  59 John-Paul Pozek  60 Humberto C Rebelo  61 Vicente Roqués  62 Kristopher M Schroeder  63 Gary Schwartz  64 Eric S Schwenk  3 Luc Sermeus  65 George Shorten  32   33   66 Karthikeyan Srinivasan  13 Markus F Stevens  67 Kassiani Theodoraki  68 Lloyd R Turbitt  69 Luis Fernando Valdés-Vilches  70 Thomas Volk  71   72 Katrina Webster  73   74 T Wiesmann  75   76 Sylvia H Wilson  77 Morné Wolmarans  78 Glenn Woodworth  79 Andrew K Worek  80 E M Louise Moran  81
Affiliations

Recommendations for effective documentation in regional anesthesia: an expert panel Delphi consensus project

Hassan M Ahmed et al. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2022 May.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Documentation is important for quality improvement, education, and research. There is currently a lack of recommendations regarding key aspects of documentation in regional anesthesia. The aim of this study was to establish recommendations for documentation in regional anesthesia.

Methods: Following the formation of the executive committee and a directed literature review, a long list of potential documentation components was created. A modified Delphi process was then employed to achieve consensus amongst a group of international experts in regional anesthesia. This consisted of 2 rounds of anonymous electronic voting and a final virtual round table discussion with live polling on items not yet excluded or accepted from previous rounds. Progression or exclusion of potential components through the rounds was based on the achievement of strong consensus. Strong consensus was defined as ≥75% agreement and weak consensus as 50%-74% agreement.

Results: Seventy-seven collaborators participated in both rounds 1 and 2, while 50 collaborators took part in round 3. In total, experts voted on 83 items and achieved a strong consensus on 51 items, weak consensus on 3 and rejected 29.

Conclusion: By means of a modified Delphi process, we have established expert consensus on documentation in regional anesthesia.

Keywords: Delphi process; anesthesia; documentation; international consensus; minimum standards; nerve block; neuraxial; regional anesthesia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart showing structure of Delphi process and progress of experts throughout the project.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Flowchart showing structure of Delphi process and progress of items throughout the project.

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