Effective postsurgical pain management for all patients is a key component of perioperative nursing care. This is especially important with today’s challenges of providing high quality, patient-centered care in the face of declining reimbursement and other economic initiatives. Because the pain management paradigm has shifted to an increasing use of multimodal analgesia, the role of local anesthetics has taken on greater significance. Infiltration of a local anesthetic into the surgical site at the time of wound closure is one aspect of a multimodal approach in managing postsurgical pain. Recent advancements have led to the development of a local anesthetic with an extended duration of action and novel delivery platform, thereby broadening its potential role as a component of some postsurgical pain management regimens. Therefore, perioperative nurses should be aware of the innovative options in local anesthetics and delivery systems that are now available to manage postsurgical pain more effectively. This continuing nursing education activity will provide a discussion of the significant clinical and economic considerations of ineffective pain management in the current health care climate. It will review the problems and limitations of opioid therapy and the pathophysiology of acute pain. Multimodal analgesia as a key strategy for effective postsurgical pain management will be discussed. The pharmacodynamics of various agents used in a multimodal pain management regimen will be reviewed. Finally, a new option for managing postsurgical pain via infiltration of the surgical site with an innovative local anesthetic and delivery system, including its benefits as documented in the literature, will be discussed.