Is it advantageous to mix local anesthetics? Should we perform blocks in asleep patients? Why is the 'tucked vs untucked' scrub debate so fierce? 🤔 Join Amit and Jeff as they dive into these controversial issues and more!

Things we referenced during this episode:

Link to interscalene mixing study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21156983/

Link to interscalene sequence study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22798531/

Link to Jeff's "Mythbusters" video on mixing local anesthetics: https://youtu.be/RIDTp7OmR8s?si=WPf6IGcW2RRc_cpl

Link to article on risk associated with blocks under GA, sedated and awake: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27355866/

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Join Amit and Jeff for a continuing discussion on belly blocks--we take a deep dive on external oblique intercostal block, find out WHY rectus sheath block is just so darn easy and fun to do, and entertain offers of tummy massages...

Link to External Oblique Intercostal Block video:

https://youtu.be/EftwBnMVHOI?si=RC_ARcjCq0fuIGA1

Link to rectus sheath block videos:

https://youtu.be/8jZG-w94srQ?si=wKUZbwn0zlztNSdl

https://youtu.be/De1hjejTLBY?si=5pDKU_xAW62KJ5Wi

Article on surgeon's attitudes towards regional anesthesia: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15105236/

Article on rectus sheath vs. thoracic epidural: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26414363/

Good salmon recipe: https://tinyurl.com/mr3rd49e

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Amit & Jeff are back to dissect (yes, intended) the amazing lineup of speakers, talks, workshops and live demos at the 2023 RA-UK Annual Scientific Meeting that was held in Newcastle, UK in May. Couldn't make it but want to hear the highlights? Want to know who won the long-awaited pro-con debate? Ok, ok, we'll leave that one to you to decide...but tune in to hear our thoughts on the rest of the exciting meeting!

Links:

RA-UK Meetings website: https://www.ra-ukmeetings.com

Amit & Jeff's pro-con debate on the value of nerve stimulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRiPOnX_cWs

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

What’s the best source for RA education? Are textbooks dead? Is it all YouTube and Insta? What about live scanning and cadaver labs? In this episode, Part two of our three-part series on education and teaching, Amit and Jeff discuss the best methods for imparting regional anesthesia wisdom (ironic, given the hosts) in 2023. No jellies were harmed in the making of this episode. 

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Teaching regional anesthesia knowledge and skills is a huge and rewarding part of our practice. This episode is the first in a special three-part series aimed at discussing how best to educate the next generation of regional anesthesiologists. Oh, and the usual tomfoolery, accents and jokes.

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Is PVB the answer? Or does PECS suffice? Do we need to get the anterior cutaneous branches? How about the axilla? In this episode, Amit & Jeff discuss how to provide top-notch anesthesia and analgesia for breast surgery, including a step-by-step, how-to recipe for awake mastectomy cases. Featuring a special guest appearance by Holt Gadsden!

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Hips don't lie, and Amit & Jeff are here to tell the truth (or at least...share their unvarnished thoughts) about how best to provide anesthesia and analgesia for hip arthroplasty. Whether you're a fan of spinal, GA, lumbar plexus, QL or PENG, there's something for everyone in this episode to keep us true to our hip-ocratic oath to keep patients safe and comfy.

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

We. Love. Tech. And all the fun gadgets and cool pieces of cutting-edge equipment that make learning, teaching and practicing regional anesthesia fun and safe. In this episode, Amit & Jeff discuss the innovative and useful bits of gear that they use in their practice, as well as several more that they can't wait to get their hands on.

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Femoral triangle vs. adductor? iPACK vs. surgical infiltration? Wait...geniculars, what?! In this episode, Amit & Jeff discuss ALL the ways to keep total knee patients comfortable while reducing side effects and getting these patients moving and out the door. Listen in to hear the anatomic basis for why we do these blocks and some tips and tricks for making them work for you.

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Are you an ESP lover or hater? In this episode, Amit and Jeff discuss all things erector spinae plane block and manage to touch on mechanisms, the controversy about ventral spread, which surgical procedures it works best for, and most importantly, share some tips and tricks to make sure that it DOES work for you in your practice. 

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

In our inaugural episode, Amit and Jeff learn a little bit about each other's backgrounds (amongst other things such as movies, Disney and fave Xmas foods) and discuss what we can expect from the podcast going forward.

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Amit & Jeff are joined by special guest star Jonny Wilkinson from Northampton as we discuss the role of nerve blocks in the intensive care unit: Which blocks? Who does them? Which patients benefit? How do we best teach these? Laughs were had, sound effects were shared, but no possums were injured in the making of this episode.

The Northampton Critical Care site: https://criticalcarenorthampton.com/

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Rectus, subcostal and TAP...oh my! In this episode, Amit and Jeff tackle belly blocks, and discuss anatomy, clinical decision-making, and their own tips learned the hard way for how to make the most out of abdominal fascial plane blocks. 

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Your patient had a latte six hours ago...is their stomach empty? BUT IS IT? Don't fret...there's a quick way to find out. In this tasty episode, Amit and Jeff digest the ins and outs of gastric point of care ultrasound (POGUS), how to reduce the risk of aspiration, discuss challenges with fasting guidelines, and answer some listener questions and compare finger injuries...

Links discussed in this episode:

Jeff's Gastric Pocus video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kc5qVMGGPU

Cieslak article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32234201/

Baettig article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37587543/

History of fasting guidelines article (gastric fistula observation!): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17080690/

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Amit and Jeff continue their tour of the upper limb, focusing on blocking the distal branches around the elbow, forearm and wrist. Also in this episode: discussion of listener questions about LAST, sharing of failed block stories, and somehow, weirdly, a reference to Paris Hilton.

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Amit and Jeff take a tour of the brachial plexus, offering insights, stories, tips and "hold-nothing-back" hot takes regarding best blocks for the upper extremity...

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

In this Season 1 festive finale, Amit and Jeff round out the year by reflecting on previous fave moments from the podcast, answer some listener questions, and count down the 12 days of Block-mas...Happy Holidays!

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

What's in a name? That which we call iPACK by any other name would...well, actually, we're not sure. In this controversial episode Amit and Jeff debate (and disagree!) about proper naming conventions, the value of eponyms, and who has the right to name blocks. Stay tuned for CAPS, PECS, RAPTIR, SPANK, 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, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Amit & Jeff dive into blocks for shoulder surgery, going deep on innervation and exploring a variety of techniques to keep your shoulder patients happy and pain-free. Plus some shout outs, listener questions and a return of the word "gumph" (feel free to suggest alternative spellings...).

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

In the exciting conclusion of our abdominal wall block series, Amit and Jeff dive into QL blocks (and more!)...what's the deal with QL 1, 2 & 3? Does it REALLY get the whole abdomen? What is a Tequila block and how can I get one cuz it sounds delicious!? Join us for all this and a heapin' helping of the usual dad jokes...

Link to Jeff's QL video:

https://youtu.be/vrQ613SoQvI?si=tFzNdjNULvXbFkd_

Link to Amit's ESP video:

https://youtu.be/EJDBnzOfmms?si=QnDGjxTWzuffW0gP

Join us each month for another sassy conversation about anesthesiology, emergency medicine, critical care, POCUS, pain medicine, ultrasound guided nerve blocks, acute pain, patient safety and perioperative care! 

Amit and Jeff welcome special guest Tanya Selak from Wooleng....Woolloongo....from Australia. Tanya shares her ideas on the role of regional anesthesia in contemporary practice, how and who we should be training procedural skills in anesthesia, and possibly wins the joke-off with the lads. 

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! 

Dope beats & phat lyrics...just two audacious dad MCs sharing the podcast origin story over some laid back West-coast flow. 

In this engaging conclusion of our two-parter, we continue to share some laughs with the amazing Tanya Selak while discussing the value of SoMe collaboration, how to set boundaries when things get rough, and why she's NOT quitting Twitter (X) quite yet. In the meantime, Amit quotes Vanilla Ice, while Tanya seeks redemption as she gets another shot at the Dad-joke title.

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! 

Grab an eggnog & a mince pie or two and join Amit and Jeff for a frosty and festive finale to Season 2, featuring answers to some listener questions and a joyful round of dad jokes!

Links to things discussed:

University of Florida study on intercostobrachial nerve block: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35308761/

Good paper explaining how regional anesthesia does NOT block ischemic pain: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24102987/

Puzzling paper attributing acute compartment syndrome after tibial shaft fracture to a femoral nerve block: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8636198/

RAUK algorithm for managing nerve injury: https://www.ra-uk.org/index.php/12-guidelines/266-ra-uk-algorithm-for-management-of-nerve-injury-associated-with-regional-anaesthesia

Sternal hematoma block with catheter: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16988309/

Paper on rebound pain (it's not a thing btw): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33390261/

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, Amit and Jeff hold court while discussing the crown jewel of regional techniques, the paravertebral block. Join us for some controversies, debates and jokes while we give paravertebral anatomy and block technique the royal treatment.

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 part 2, Amit and Jeff tackle probe positioning, needle trajectory and something called Pawa's Pleural Groan...Why is the PVB poised to have a renaissance? Should we block one level? Every level? What's the risk of pneumothorax and should this block be done in anti coagulated patients? (spoiler: 2 out of 2 hosts say YES!) Join us for all this and more as we round out this in-depth discussion into one of our FAVE block techniques. Oh, and jokes. Always the jokes.

Link to the Cho study on paravertebral micro-CT anatomy:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33990438/

Link to the paper on intermittent bolus vs continuous infusion for PV catheters:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30674696/

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 are joined by two Emergency Medicine experts (and self-described Blockheads!) with a passion for keeping injured patients comfortable. Drs. Arun Nagdev and Andrew Goldsmith talk to us about the role of regional anesthesia in the ER, what blocks are high-impact, what exactly is meant by a "tube and lube rotation" for trainees, and more! 

Link to the JAMA paper on regional anesthesia in the ER and complications: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2826105

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 are joined by Dr. Robbie Erskine from Daaaarrby, UK, sharing his immense wealth of knowledge and experience (and which Bond film is his fave) on spinal anesthesia technique and how to make ambulatory spinals work for everyone! 

Link to the BJA Education article on neuraxial anesthesia in patients with challenging anatomy: https://www.bjaed.org/article/S2058-5349(23)00154-3/fulltext

Link to Robbie's review article on ambulatory spinal anesthesia:

https://www.bjaed.org/article/S2058-5349(19)30107-6/fulltext

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! 

Clear!!! In the exciting conclusion to our two-parter on blocks in emergency medicine, things get real as the co-hosts debate Arun and Andrew over the ideal block for hip fracture, a slick way to reduce a shoulder dislocation, cheeky femoral blocks, and the role of fascial plane blocks in the ED. 

Links:

The sponsor of this episode is GE Healthcare Venue Family of Ultrasound Machines: https://tinyurl.com/gehealthcarevenue

Article on spontaneous reduction hip dislocation after PENG block: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39781033/

Blockheads website: www.blockheads-em.com

5 Minute Sono: https://coreultrasound.com/5ms/

POCUS Atlas: https://www.thepocusatlas.com/

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! 

Wine, flamingos, and a glass box…this is NOT your typical BILIH episode...Amit and Jeff join you from the ASRA Spring Annual Meeting 2025 in Orlando, Florida, where they recorded live interviews with over a dozen influential thinkers in regional anesthesiology. Join us as we chat and laugh with James Kim, Sandy Kopp and Nadia Hernandez over discussions of POCUS, probe covers, catheters, the NEW anticoagulation guidelines, and much much 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! 

Our star-studded guest list continues live from the GE Healthcare Block Box at ASRA Spring 25! In this episode we interview Ed Mariano, Eleni Moka, and Michael Bullock, and get their answers to such questions as: What platforms work best for social media? How do we bring RA education to under-resourced parts of the globe? What is the mechanism of tourniquet hypertension and what's a clever trick to obviate that? Why is Jeff so $&*# at accents? And more! No cuts, no edits, no bleeps -- just hard-hitting investigative journalism and--oh, wait, I'm being told that's not what we do. Either way, 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! 

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! 

Amit and Jeff are still (!) sweating it out in the block box, and have the good fortune to be joined by three wonderful guests: Stuart Grant from the University of North Carolina, Steve Coppens from the Catholic University of Leuven, and Gary Schwartz from Maimonides Medical Center in NYC. We cover such topics as peripheral nerve stimulation for looooong term pain control, the value of the ESP (and where it might just be hype--I'm talking to you, bunionectomy), the struggle of teaching residents AND fellows in the same institution, and cryoanalgesia of the cuties and intercostal nerves and what that means for patients both before their operations and after. Oh, and maybe why you shouldn't let your colleagues (or your trainees) stick needles in your back...

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! 

He's the founder of NYSORA, a rock-blues bassist, and a lover of fine beer and finer automobiles. We had a ton of fun chatting with Admir Hadzic about the his origin story, how he has been able to reinvent himself and his focus, and how to NOT live your life in "thirds". Over three decades, Admir has built a global educational brand while running a highly efficient regional anesthesia service in New York and now Belgium, and he shares his secrets on how he's been able to build a team, create value, and not get bogged down in things that aren't moving the mission forward. Cheers! 

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! 

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! 

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/

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

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! 

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

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/

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

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

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! 

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! 

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. 

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 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!