Whether blocks are conducted in the operating room, the preoperative holding area, or a formal block area, patients should have an intravenous catheter initiated, monitors placed, and supplemental oxygen delivered prior to the block (Fig. 5.1). The induction of regional anesthesia has risks that are similar to those of general anesthesia. For this reason, a block cart stocked with equipment for regional block should also contain appropriate equipment and drugs for resuscitation in the event of an anesthetic catastrophe (Fig. 5.2).² Judicious sedation and analgesia, along with a kind bedside manner, will prepare most patients for regional anesthesia but will also avoid a depth of anesthesia that precludes feedback to the anesthesiologist (Fig. 5.3).