PUBLIC COMMENT - The Guideline for Care of the Patient Receiving Local-Only

The Guideline for Care of the Patient Receiving Local-Only is open for public comment August 20 – September 20, 2025, at https://www.aorn.org/events/public-commenting.

This evidence-based guideline provides essential guidance for the perioperative registered nurse (RN) and clinical team caring for a patient receiving local-only anesthesia by injection, infiltration, tumescent infiltration, or topical application. This document includes evidence-informed practice recommendations for:

• Patient assessment and monitoring (with more clear guidance on what to monitor and when),
• individualized care planning (including determining as an interdisciplinary team, the maximum dose in the plan of care).
• Staffing considerations
• Documentation of patient care.
• Recognition, assessment, and treatment of potential adverse reactions to local anesthesia, including local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST), local anesthetic allergic reactions, and other adverse reactions (eg, methemoglobinemia).