Introduction: Pain is an unpleasant sensation. Postoperative pain occurs due to tissue injury from surgical procedure. It causes discomfort and increases risk for health-care related complications. It is treated by oral, intravenous or epidural therap, or by blockage of individual nerves or nerve plexuses. Femoral nerve block inhibits signal transmission through femoral nerve, which prevents pain sensations in it́s innervation area. Besides analgesic effects it also causes anesthetic ones. Femoral nerve block significantly reduces the need of systemic opioid analgesics, which lowers the risk of side effects of those drugs and enables faster rehabilitation. It is used for anesthesia and postoperative analgesia in lower limb surgery. The nurse has an important role in femoral nerve block application. She prepares the patient for the procedure, cooperates in block applying, observes drug effects and educates the patient. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to compare femoral nerve block efficacy with standard analgesic methods. Methods: We used a descriptive method of work with a review of scientific and professional literature on the topic of postoperative pain management. The literature search was carried out with the use of PubMed and Google Scholar databases, and we took into account the inclusion criteria and searched for literature that is less than 10 years old. Results: We included 10 studies in the final analysis of the literature review, most of which were randomised controlled trials and a few retrospective studies. One study was focusing exclusively on pediatric patients and the others mostly on adult and geriatric populations. The main outcome of most research was pain intensity, opioid consumption, time to first mobilisation, functional outcomes, patient satisfaction, and incidence of postoperative complications and observation of cognitive function. Discussion and conclusion: The literature research found that femoral nerve block significantly reduces postoperative pain and opioid consumption after orthopedic surgeries, especially in total knee replacement. It contributes to better clinical outcomes and is a key part of modern multimodal analgesia. Despite positive findings, some studies have shown minor or statistically insignificant differences, particularly in pediatric and elderly patients, highlighting the need to individualise analgesic approaches. The use of femoral nerve block also has significant public health potential within modern ERAS protocols. Additional research with larger samples, standardized methodology and longer follow-up of outcomes is needed to formulate more precise guidelines.
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