Expert consensus on serratus anterior plane block education and credentialing: A modified-Delphi study

Christopher Partyka; Daniel Gaetani; Anthony Delaney; Kate Curtis

doi:10.1111/1742-6723.14542

Expert consensus on serratus anterior plane block education and credentialing: A modified-Delphi study

Emerg Med Australas. 2024 Dec 3. doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.14542. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Christopher Partyka^{1

2

3}, Daniel Gaetani^{4

5

6}, Anthony Delaney^{7

8

9

10}, Kate Curtis^{3

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Emergency Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
² Aeromedical Operations, NSW Ambulance, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
³ Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Emergency Medicine, Campbelltown & Camden Hospitals, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ School of Medicine, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ South West Sydney Clinical School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Malcolm Fisher Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁸ Division of Critical Care, The George Institute for Global Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Northern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁰ ANZIC Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
¹¹ George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹² Emergency and Critical Care Research, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 39628112
DOI: 10.1111/1742-6723.14542

Abstract

Objective: The serratus anterior plane block (SAPB) is a regional anaesthesia technique with increasing use as an analgesic adjunct in patients with rib fractures. The present study aimed to generate consensus of the requirements of education, training and credentialing for the use of a 'single shot' SAPB in the management of rib fractures.

Methods: A modified Delphi process was designed using online questionnaires. Expert panellists from Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand were invited from the fields of Emergency Medicine and Anaesthesia and were asked to rate the importance of different components of SAPB education, training and credentialling on a 9-point Likert scale. Consensus was achieved if ≥70% of experts provided a score of seven or greater on this scale for any given statement.

Results: Thirty specialists (60% FACEM, 40% FANZCA) representing New Zealand plus all states and territories of Australia formed the expert panel. Participant response rates were 100% (first round), 83% (second round) and 63% (final round). At the end of three survey rounds, 59 consensus statements were formed (27 for education, 5 for training and 17 for credentialing).

Conclusions: This series of expert statements provides consensus on the education, training and credentialling of the SAPB for the management of rib fractures. These serve as the minimum standard by which this procedure should be taught while providing clinicians with a syllabus for the development of training programmes.

Keywords: medical education; regional anaesthesia; rib fractures; serratus anterior plane block.