ASRA Pain Medicine Update

Cite as: Schroeder K. Editor's message: change. ASRA News. 2021;46. https://doi.org/10.52211/asra050121.024.

“You can’t stop the change, any more than you can stop the suns from setting.”¹ 

This past year has been one of tremendous changes.  At times, it seemed that we would be defeated by plagues, political and social turmoil, or things as mundane as being conscripted into the role of elementary school educator.  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this”² could have been the theme for the year as “we seem to be made to suffer - it’s our lot in life”³ became a recurrent and depressing trope.   

However, “always in motion is the future,”⁴ and it is important that we emerge from these concurrent parallel catastrophes with a renewed sense of optimism and purpose.  It is important to “be mindful of the future… but not at the expense of the moment”⁵ and recognize that there will likely never be another moment in time where we will be presented with the opportunity to devote a similar quantity or quality of time and attention to our families and hobbies. While “many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view,”⁶ a year break from our children’s activity engagements and work-related meetings combined with mandates to work from home when not clinically needed have provided us all with an opportunity to emerge from this pandemic with the vigor and enthusiasm required to address the needs of our patients because “somebody has to save our skins”⁷ from an ongoing opioid epidemic and pain crisis.

The ASRA News has not been immune from changes, and the past three years have witnessed bold and enormous changes to our format and offerings. The ASRA News staff (Anne Snively and Athena Ermidis), the ASRA News Associate Editors (Lynn Kohan, Vivian Ip, and Dalia Elmofty) and members of the ASRA News Committee are certainly no "Bad Batch." From them, we have asked a tremendous amount and they have not failed to deliver. There have been months where I feared that we would be defeated and that our edition would fail to meet our deadlines. However, this committee maintained a “never tell me the odds!² attitude, and I never doubted that “my men are working as fast as they can.”⁸

While I am unable to say that “everything is proceeding as I have foreseen,”⁹ I am incredibly proud of the work that this group has produced and the trajectory of this publication.  It has become apparent that “much to learn you still have… my old Padawan”⁴ and the popularity of our “How I do it” series of publications has blossomed into an expanding compendium available to augment your clinical practice. The ASRA News podcast has increased in popularity and provides an easy mechanism for ASRA members to digest our published content while on the (Kessel) run.

So then, “the force is strong with this one,”¹⁰ and I am incredibly confident that the next generation of ASRA News staff will solidify the status of this publication as the preeminent destination for cutting-edge and peer-provided clinical knowledge.  As always, the ASRA News represents every “scruffy-looking nerf herder’s”⁷ opportunity to contribute to the “voice” of ASRA and your ideas for topics or authors are incredibly welcome.  Soon, a newly created ASRA News Committee will represent a distinct entity within ASRA and expand its leadership structure with dedicated positions tasked with focusing on special projects/editions and expanding our social media impact.  To maintain full access to all of the available ASRA News content, it will soon be necessary to have an active ASRA membership. Please ensure that your ASRA membership remains active to avoid any lapses in access.   

To all my old and new friends, “may the force be with you.”¹¹ If you are attending the spring annual meeting in Orlando, I hope that you and your family have a magical time and that the stars align in Galaxy’s Edge as you work to ride Smuggler’s Run and Rise of the Resistance. As I ride off into the two-sunned sunset of my tenure as editor, it is my hope that whether you work in an operating room that is the bright center of the universe or one that it is farthest from, you know that your ASRA family will always be willing to meet you in a local cantina – even if it is ripe with “scum and villainy”⁶ - and share a blue milk while discussing the future of pain management, patient care and your well-being. 

Kristopher M. Schroeder, MD, is a professor and section chief for the regional anesthesia and acute pain management section at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He is the chair of the ASRA Newsletter Committee.

References

Star Wars Movie Franchise.  Created by George Lucas 1977. 

1. Shmi Skywalker
2. Han Solo
3. C-3PO
4. Yoda
5. Qui Gon Jinn
6. Obi Wan Kenobi
7. Leia Organa
8. Moff Jerjerrod
9. Emperor Palpatine
10. Darth Vader
11. Luke Skywalker