IntroductionHip fractures among older people are common worldwide, and it is often associated with
preoperative pain. Due to increased comorbidity and high age, traditional pain relief
can be a challenge. An alternative to traditional pain relief is a femoral nerve block,
which is safe and suitable for anesthesia and analgesia for hip fractures among patients
with or without dementia. It is essential to provide adequate pain management, and
nurses report negative attitudes toward opioids and seem to prefer alternative pain
management. To our knowledge, no study has focused on staff's experiences of nursing
care for patients treated with femoral nerve block.AimTo describe staff's experiences providing nursing care in preoperative pain and pain
management to older patients with a hip fracture who received a femoral nerve block.DesignA qualitative exploratory design.MethodSemistructured interviews with 19 nurses or assistant nurses in an orthopedic ward or
emergency department. They were experienced in caring for patients with hip fractures
who received treatment with a femoral nerve block. The interviews were subjected to
qualitative content analysis.ResultsStaff described the femoral nerve block as setting the agenda when caring for older
patients with hip fractures in the preoperative phase. The outcome of the femoral nerve
block affected nursing care, depending on if the femoral nerve block was successful or
not. Nursing care requires timing, with a need for staff orienting to time and
customizing their communication. Further, staff faced ethical challenges regarding doing
good and not harm, relieving pain, and avoiding side effects.ConclusionsThe femoral nerve block was an important issue for nursing staff in patients with hip
fractures in the preoperative phase. Our results point toward the benefits of giving
femoral nerve blocks as soon as possible to facilitate nursing care, however, this
should be studied in future research.