Block It Like It’s Hot: Regional Anesthesia, Pain Medicine & POCUS

In this episode from the Oslo Block Box sessions, we chat with Vicente Roques from Spain who is a wizard with using AI to generate images, videos, and audio narration--Vicente shares his favorite tools and experiences, and gives us some insight as to why his presentations are SOOOO good. We then talk with Rosie Hogg from Belfast, who channels her inner K-Pop Demon Hunter when talking about how and why to implement POCUS in your practice, how to compassionately bring colleagues along on your journey, and much much more. 

Philip Peng, a regional anesthesia innovator from Toronto, and Bo Gottshau, a high-volume Copenhagen regional anesthesiologist, join a lively convo. They explore pushing ambulatory surgery limits, novel shoulder blocks like the 'SEXY' phrenic-sparing idea, scalable block-room workflows, training and naming strategies for new blocks. Short, punchy discussion on practice, teaching, and innovation.

Nuala Lucas, consultant obstetric anaesthetist and OAA president, shares her passion for labour analgesia and debates epidural skills, CSE and DPE. Alan Macfarlane, professor leading the NAP8 national audit, outlines a major registry to track rare regional anaesthesia complications. They discuss audit design, data challenges, and the evolving role of blocks in obstetric care.

Ho ho hold the phone! It's time for our Holiday Special Episode and in this, our third season, we go to the BILIH voicemail inbox and see what's been on YOUR mind! In this episode we'll do our best to answer listener questions about continuous spinals, regional research, rebound pain, needle trajectory, AI, education, chronic pain, patient management, equipment, and more! So grab an eggnog and a plate of gingerbread, you won't want to miss this one... Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, and perioperative care!    Links: 🔗 The Failed Block Classification Paper by Vasyl Katerenchuk: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39317587/   🔗 The genicular paper by Milly Rambhia and Andy Chen: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34261807/   🔗 Video on mixing locals (the final word on the topic, you really don't have to watch anything else...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka2SQxiCgGo      

Close your eyes and repeat after me: "Less Pharma, More Karma"... In this fascinating interview, Dr. Jeni Noerenberg -- anesthesiologist AND integrative medicine physician -- takes a couple of noobs like Amit and Jeff and explains how techniques like noetic medicine, acupuncture, guided imagery, aromatherapy, nutrition, clinical hypnosis (and more!) are being used in the perioperative space to reduce anxiety, decrease anesthetic and opioid requirement, reduce nausea and pain, and improve other important patient outcomes. We learned a TON and Jeni left us inspired to learn more. Oh, and If you don't hear from us for a while, it just means we're not back from our shamanic journey yet.    Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, and perioperative care!    Links: 🔗 The Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona https://awcim.arizona.edu/public_site_2024/home.html    

Kariem El-Boghdadly, consultant anesthesiologist and airway expert, and Amy Pearson, anesthesiologist and APSF digital strategist, join for a lively chat. They compare airway topicalization versus ultrasound-guided blocks. Amy discusses patient communication, digital outreach, and chronic pain procedures like vertebroplasty and Botox for migraines. Practical airway techniques and safety debates keep things spicy.

We're back to Oslo for the ESRA Block Box experience where we interviewed two fascinating and impressive people: Guy Weinberg from Chicago regales us with how a failed experiment led to an incredible antidote, and leaves us with a word of warning about a commonly-used local anesthetic; and Barbara Breebaart from Antwerp, explains how we have just SIX seconds to win the confidence of our patients with our body language, and other amazing tips for putting patients at ease. Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, and perioperative care!    Links: 🔗 The article Guy cites about new data on LAST and the danger of lidocaine: https://www.bjanaesthesia.org/article/S0007-0912(25)00493-3/fulltext   🔗 Elvira Lang & Eleanor Laser book on patient rapport: https://www.amazon.com/Patient-Sedation-Without-Medication-Technologists/dp/1461037603    

The ah-maaazing interviews continue in the Block Box in Orlando -- this time Amit and Jeff are chatting with two Canadians! Anahi Perlas from Toronto tells us about how she first started to think about gastric ultrasound and the challenges involved in creating a new diagnostic test. And then Jon Bailey from Halifax shares his experiences in researching the feasibility of nerve blocks in outer space!  Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, and perioperative care! 

Got pain that last for a looooong time? YOU, my friend, need a continuous catheter! Join Amit and Jeff as they discuss all things catheter-related: What is the best way to place them? How do keep them from falling out? What are the differences in catheter and pump designs? Is a programmed intermittent bolus enough? Or do we need a background rate too? What is a 'green gizmo'? Why does Jeff keep attempting accents? So many questions--and SO MANY answers! Stay tuned for all this and much more as we pump it up in this fun and enlightening episode.  Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, and perioperative care!    Links:   🔗 Article on force required to remove catheters with and without tunneling: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24447324/   🔗 Article on best method for securing catheters to skin in volunteers: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33406276/   🔗 Article on short vs. long axis placement of popliteal catheters: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27440634/   🔗 Article on the first documented continuous catheter using a cork, needle and tape: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20983091/    

Explore the intricacies of foot and ankle anesthesia! Discover a range of blocks, from digital to popliteal sciatic. Learn about pain expectations for various surgeries like bunions and fractures. Listen to insights on ultrasound techniques and the advantages of nerve stimulation. Dive into the humorously shared experiences of the hosts, while debating tourniquet pain management and local infiltration strategies. Plus, hear about innovative methods like WALANT for awake surgeries and the use of liposomal bupivacaine for lasting relief!