A survey of tourniquet use in limbs surgery among the orthopaedic surgeons of Peshawar

Aim: to assess the orthopaedic surgeons knowledge and technique on tourniquet use in clinical practice in peshawar.methods: this descriptive case series study was conducted in orthopaedic and trauma unit a lady reading hospital peshawar from february 2014 to july 2014. fifty orthopaedic surgeons of peshawar with varying levels of experience in orthopaedics & trauma surgery were given a questionnaire that was constructed using set guidelines from the association of peri operative registered nurses (aorn) for recommended practice of tourniquet application in the united states.results: a total of 44 completed questionnaires were collected for analysis of which 34(77.2%) respondents were reported using pneumatic tourniquet,6(13.6%) esmarch bandage while,4(9%) using no tourniquet at all. limb occlusion pressure (lop) or systolic blood pressure had not been utilized by any surgeon to calculate the tourniquet inflation pressure. mean utes (range,45-100 minutes) for the upper limb and 95 minutes for the lower limb. fourteen surgeons (41.1% of respondents) using pneumatic tourniquet and four surgeons using rubber tourniquet experienced a complication secondary to tourniquet use,the most common complications being tourniquet pain and nerve injury.conclusion: our results show suboptimal knowledge of tourniquets and their use among the orthopaedic surgeons of peshawar. a variation in tourniquet pressure settings and techniques used was reported. © 2014 pakistan journal of medical and health sciences. all rights reserved.