Is intraop monitoring really that necessary with regional anesthesia?

I run into a scenario every now and then where I block a patient, they have a great block, come into the OR for their hand operation and get a propofol infusion essentially to just "pass the time." Their anesthetic is completely stable, boring, and the sedation is seemingly unnecessary. My question is, with the right pre-screening, counseling of patient pre-operatively, sufficient lag-time for onset of block and safety monitoring, would it really be that unsafe to have the patient be in the... Read more
Source: Student Doctor Network - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Tags: Anesthesiology Source Type: forums