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

Hope you all had a great summer! We're back, and sharing with you our fascinating interviews with three outstanding regional legends: Morné Wolmarans from Norwich, England talks to us about building USGRA in the UK by doing blocks on himself, and his work with standardizing and updating the ESRA-DRA examinations. Next, Lloyd Turbitt from Belfast, UK, co-author of the Plan A blocks concept, talks about the implementation of those principles in anesthesia training. Our third guest is Lukas Kirchmair from Innsbruck, Austria, who shares his passion for anatomy and his thoughts on the role of cadaveric workshops in contemporary RA education. And after that we have two special guests that make an appearance, so stay tuned until the end!

Score one for innovation and patient safety, we've got Jens Borglum and Nat Haslam on our team! 🏅💉 In this episode we chat with both of these engaging gentlemen who have pioneered block rooms, fascial plane blocks and more! Pour yourself a little Cuervo with lime, sit back and enjoy... 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!

In this episode from the Block Box in Oslo, we have a lovely chat with the irrepressible Dave Johnston from Belfast who shares his experience building block rooms, why he does QL blocks for pelvic fractures, and his thoughts on the adductor canal vs. femoral triangle con-traaaah-versy. Then we share some laughs and stories with the charming Kavita Houthoff Khemlani who talks about her journey into medicine (by way of training ocean predators) and how social media can bring people together. 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!

Buckle up for a wild ride...Amit and Jeff jet off to Sydney, Australia to chat with Stavros Prineas of Nepean Hospital: Anesthesiologist, human factors expert, raconteur, lover of dad jokes, and all around good guy! (ok, we didn't fly there, but one day...). How to set up your block area, Feng shui, darts, ABBA, Inigo Montoya, identity hats, Seinfeld junior mint references, Émile Chartier quotes...we cover a LOT of ground in this fun and engaging 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!

In this episode we have a super fun chat with two lovely people: Louise Moran and Rafa Blanco. Both share great stories, and both make us laugh. Also, if you want some FREE video education and a chance to ask us how to scan a certain technique tune into THESE special events coming soon (late April and early May)! https://landing1.gehealthcare.com/anesthesia-series-registration-page-2026.html

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.

What would it look like to push the boundaries of ambulatory surgery under regional anesthesia? What new innovations are there left in blocks for shoulder surgery? How should blocks be taught, and what makes a good block name? Spoiler: Make it sexy. In this engaging episode, Amit and Jeff interview Bo Gottshau from Copenhagen and Philip Peng from Toronto, seeking answers to all these questions, and more! 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!

New Season Unlocked! Happy New Year and welcome to our 4th season...in this episode, we're back in the Block Box chatting with none other than Alan Macfarlane from Glasgow, who gives us some amazing Scottish jokes AND a sneak peek into the NAP8 Project that he's leading for the Royal College of Anaesthetists on complications related to regional anesthesia. It promises to be a massive effort and we can't wait to see the results! We also have the pleasure of chatting with Nuala Lucas about her passion for obstetric anesthesiology, and discuss the role of blocks in OB anesthesia, the risk that we're becoming de-skilled in epidural analgesia, the rationale for dural-puncture epidurals, and more! 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!

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

More Oslo interviews? You got it. This time we're chatting with amazing Amy Pearson about her leadership in promoting anesthesia safety through the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation, and how botox creates opportunities for enhanced patient connection! We also somehow get suckered into a pro-con on airway blocks vs. topicalization with the ever impressive (and impeccably styled) Kariem El-Boghdadly, and well, we'll let you decide what the outcome is... 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 APSF social media page administered by Dr. Pearson: https://www.apsf.org/social-media/ 🔗 Video showing how to completely anesthetize the airway with a small amount of lidocaine in 5 minutes. https://youtu.be/1yaD2APv14Y?si=vQSVBFjpbKZm7JFv 🔗 Article on fatal LAST event in a volunteer for bronchoscopy https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9612458/

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/

In this toe-tally fascinating episode, Amit and Jeff talk ankle blocks, digital blocks, Mayo blocks, popliteal sciatic blocks, and much more. Who knew there were so many ways to block the five little piggies??! Join us every episode for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, and perioperative care! Links from the episode: 🔗 Robards et al article about needing an intra-sheath needle tip position to elicit a motor response for popliteal sciatic nerve block: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19608846/ 🔗 Lopez article about the sensory distribution of the saphenous nerve: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22854395/ 🔗 Wahal/Bullock article on the Femoral Arterial Block (FAB): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33431616/ 🔗 Mythbusters video on the use of epinephrine in digital blocks: https://youtu.be/Lh8dp8csNHU?si=mczxCGDWoEGuUmoQ

Greetings from Norway!! 🇳🇴 Amit and Jeff once again return to the GE Healthcare Block Box, this time at the ESRA25 meeting in Oslo! In this episode, we chat with Athmaja Thottungal about her motivation behind a career change, the value of healthcare coaches for preventative health, and some practical tips to chill out and engage in a "digital detox". Following that, we talk with John McDonnell and hear his thoughts on blocks new aaaaand not-so-new (and he teases us with some yet-to-be-published hints about a knee block he's working on...). Two incredibly insightful guests, two adequate hosts. Enjoy! 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: 🔗 International Board of Lifestyle Medicine: https://iblm.org/ 🔗 Institute of Integrative Nutrition (Where Athma got her coaching certification from): https://www.integrativenutrition.com/ 🔗 The article on psoas sheath block that John and team published: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40386030/

Two amazing interviewees in one deee-licious episode! The uber-impressive Ki Jinn Chin from the University of Toronto shares his ASRA "origin story", his thoughts on how regional anesthesia really does incorporate elements of artistry, creativity and improvisation, how long a YouTube video SHOULD be, and what he's doing with spinals these days. Following that, the always inspiring and engaging Amanda Kumar joins us from Duke University where she shares her experience with high-fidelity simulation, the use of cognitive aids, how to practice ultrasound-guided needling at home, and why she loves cat memes. 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!

In this fascinating episode, Amit and Jeff interview Dr. Jordana Garbati, an “emoji-ologist” 😎 who has researched and lectured internationally about the use of emoji as language. For something we use every day, we sure had a lot of questions: are we using these correctly? Are there ways to be misinterpreted? Is it ok to emoji your boss? What emoji are useful in communicating with colleagues or patients? If you’ve ever wondered how emoji get chosen to be on your phone, or if you wanna understand how luxury brands and birdwatchers are using emoji, then stay tuned. 🧠💉🧊🔥🎙️🤓🧀🤦‍♂️ Dr. Garbati's University of Toronto profile: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/isup/people/jordana-garbati Dr. Garbati's lab website: http://thescrl.com/ Dr. Garbati's LinkedIn page: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jordana-garbati Dr. Garbati's X/Twitter: @DrGarbati 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!

Our two hosts sit down for a stimulating (yes, intended) conversation with Kwesi Kwofie from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, who gets down and dirty about needle nerve contact and nerve injury. Where exactly should we put the needle when performing a supraclavicular brachial plexus block? Or...is the supraclav dead?!! Why is periplexus preferred over intraplexus when doing interscalene brachial plexus blocks? Oh, and Kwesi might just win the joke contest. But wait, not to outdone, we follow up with Kristopher Schroeder from the University of Wisconsin, who educates us about raaaaaanch dressing, cheese curds, and gets us thinking about artificial intelligence and anesthesiology--is it ok to use generative AI to write a reference letter for a colleague? What is 'sentiment analysis' and do we have to read the whole paper anymore? Can AI help in decision-making surrounding transfusion practices? For all this and much much more, tune in to this fascinating 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!

Amit and Jeff continue their fascinating dive into the mind and life of Admir Hadzic, author, innovator, founder of NYSORA, brewer of fine beer, bassist and sports car nut. In this episode we discuss standardization in regional anesthesia, the future of textbooks in medicine, how sedated DO patients really want to be for nerve blocks, what it's like to drive a Ferrari to your next gig, and (because we don't shy away from cont-rah-versy, Admir's passionate thoughts and feelings on why there IS a difference between spinal and general for hip fracture and where some of the recent data may be more harmful than helpful for patients. 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!