{"title":"Regional anaesthesia in the emergency centre: Knowledge, attitudes and practices of doctors in the Western Cape, South Africa.","authors":"Andrew D Fourie, Adéle De Goede, Michael Pather","doi":"10.4102/safp.v67i1.6194","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Regional anaesthesia in emergency centres (ECs) offers clear benefits for patient care and system efficiency. However, its use in South African ECs remains inconsistent, and the knowledge, attitudes and practices of emergency doctors are not well understood. A notable gap exists in formal training.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional survey was conducted among EC doctors at four district hospitals in the Metro-East health district of the Western Cape, South Africa. Data were collected via an electronic questionnaire exploring knowledge, attitudes and practices related to regional anaesthesia.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Eighty-five doctors participated (58% response rate). Among them, 67.1% had prior training in peripheral nerve blocks, predominantly informal and peer-based (98.2%), with only 8.8% receiving formal training. Most (96.5%) expressed interest in further training. Regional anaesthesia was underused: 36.5% used it less than monthly, 23.5% weekly and only 2.4% daily. Despite this, 77.6% rated it as important or very important, and 75.3% scored its usefulness ≥ 7/10. Barriers included limited confidence in managing local anaesthetic toxicity and inconsistent monitoring: 39.1% never monitored, while only 25% did so consistently. The most cited barrier (92.9%) was a lack of knowledge.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite strong interest and favourable attitudes, regional anaesthesia remains underutilised because of limited knowledge, informal training and concerns about safety and monitoring.Contribution: This study reveals a disconnect between positive clinician attitudes and limited practical competence. It underscores the need for structured, formal educational initiatives to support safe and effective regional anaesthesia use in district ECs.</p>","PeriodicalId":22040,"journal":{"name":"South African Family Practice","volume":"67 1","pages":"e1-e8"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-11-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13150384/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"South African Family Practice","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4102/safp.v67i1.6194","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Regional anaesthesia in emergency centres (ECs) offers clear benefits for patient care and system efficiency. However, its use in South African ECs remains inconsistent, and the knowledge, attitudes and practices of emergency doctors are not well understood. A notable gap exists in formal training.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among EC doctors at four district hospitals in the Metro-East health district of the Western Cape, South Africa. Data were collected via an electronic questionnaire exploring knowledge, attitudes and practices related to regional anaesthesia.
Results: Eighty-five doctors participated (58% response rate). Among them, 67.1% had prior training in peripheral nerve blocks, predominantly informal and peer-based (98.2%), with only 8.8% receiving formal training. Most (96.5%) expressed interest in further training. Regional anaesthesia was underused: 36.5% used it less than monthly, 23.5% weekly and only 2.4% daily. Despite this, 77.6% rated it as important or very important, and 75.3% scored its usefulness ≥ 7/10. Barriers included limited confidence in managing local anaesthetic toxicity and inconsistent monitoring: 39.1% never monitored, while only 25% did so consistently. The most cited barrier (92.9%) was a lack of knowledge.
Conclusion: Despite strong interest and favourable attitudes, regional anaesthesia remains underutilised because of limited knowledge, informal training and concerns about safety and monitoring.Contribution: This study reveals a disconnect between positive clinician attitudes and limited practical competence. It underscores the need for structured, formal educational initiatives to support safe and effective regional anaesthesia use in district ECs.
期刊介绍：
South African Family Practice (SAFP) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which strives to provide primary care physicians and researchers with a broad range of scholarly work in the disciplines of Family Medicine, Primary Health Care, Rural Medicine, District Health and other related fields. SAFP publishes original research, clinical reviews, and pertinent commentary that advance the knowledge base of these disciplines. The content of SAFP is designed to reflect and support further development of the broad basis of these disciplines through original research and critical review of evidence in important clinical areas; as well as to provide practitioners with continuing professional development material.
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