At times, for surgical procedures, it is necessary or more beneficial to perform the procedure using regional anesthesia rather than general anesthesia. With regional anesthesia, the patient remains alert or can be sedated during the procedure, and medication is injected near a cluster of nerves to numb only the area that requires surgery. This type of anesthesia can be used on many types of surgical procedures, including but not limited to: orthopedic, gastrointestinal, gynecological, vascular, and urological. The interviewer is asking this question to determine how much experience the candidate has with administering regional anesthesia and what types of procedures they have administered regional anesthesia for. To successfully answer this question, the candidate should describe their experience, in detail, with administering regional anesthesia, including the types of procedures they have administered regional anesthesia for.

"There have been many surgical procedures that I have administered regional anesthesia for, and I am very comfortable with doing so. I started out administering this type of procedure when performing nerve blocks during orthopedic surgeries; however, as I have gained more experience over the years, I have been able to use regional anesthesia in many more cases, such as gynecological, urological, and vascular procedures. When using this type of anesthesia, I am sure to speak with the patient beforehand to determine if they need to be sedated, so I can administer the appropriate sedation medication as well."