Anesthesia and Critical Care Reviews and Commentary (ACCRAC) Podcast Episode 319: Master Clinician Part 9: Dr. Michaela Farber
Oct 18, 2025
Dr. Michaela Farber, the inaugural Chief of Obstetric Anesthesiology at Mass General Brigham and an associate professor at Harvard, shares insights from her extensive career in OB anesthesia. She discusses the importance of fellowship training for improving maternal care and outcomes, the impact of rising clinical complexity, and lessons learned from mentoring fellows. Notably, she emphasizes using music to alleviate preoperative anxiety and highlights critical interventions for hemorrhage management, including the importance of safety habits among clinicians.
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Catheter Threading Fails Are Common
- Fellow Hans Wiggum tracked thousands of epidural placements and found ~5% incidence of catheters that won't thread.
- He showed restarting and re-puncturing had lower wet-tap rates than forceful maneuvers, guiding safer handling.
Mozart Reduced C-Section Anxiety
- A fellow tested pre-selected Mozart versus self-selected music before C-section and no-music control in 150 patients.
- The Mozart group had the lowest anxiety, showing simple music choices can reduce preoperative stress.
Meet Patients In The OR To Build Rapport
- Walk back to the operating room with the patient before C-section to build rapport and learn communication preferences.
- Use that interaction to shape anesthetic decisions and address patient priorities preemptively.
