Pocket ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia meat model

Background Ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia (UGRA) is an important tool for multimodal management of acute pain in the emergency department. Hands-on practice with UGRA trainers has been shown to improve knowledge and skill acquisition, but current trainers can be costly and have unrealistic anatomy. We present a novel pocket UGRA meat model that attempts to mimic real sonoanatomy with low cost and high ease of portability. Methods We created eight novel pocket UGRA meat models using readily available materials to simulate anatomy for the following nerve blocks: forearm, interscalene brachial plexus, erector spinae, serratus anterior plane, fascia iliaca compartment, pericapsular nerve group, posterior tibial and the transgluteal sciatic nerve block. Results Each pocket UGRA model fits within a 16 cubic-inch box, and all eight models together occupy approximately 2 L of volume. The cost of creating each model ranges from $3.05 to $3.74 each. The cost of creating all eight models is $28.28 total for all materials. Conclusions Our pocket UGRA meat models are low cost, easy to build and store and contain landmarks mimicking real sonoanatomy. Our model design can be easily adapted to construct a variety of different nerve blocks.