ASRA Pain Medicine Update

Cite as: Ip V. Editor's message. ASRA Pain Medicine News 2022;47. https://doi.org/10.52211/asra080122.028 

It is truly amazing to learn about the inspiring journeys of people’s lives. In this edition of ASRA Pain Medicine News, we have the privilege of inviting this year’s Gaston Labat Award recipient, Dr. Brian Ilfeld, and the Distinguished Service Award recipient, Dr. Ban Tsui, to share their personal journeys and experiences in becoming successful clinicians and academics, as well as offering advice for our next generation of anesthesiologists. Of course, both of them have special interests in peripheral nerve stimulation and neuromodulation, and it just so happens that in this edition, we have articles on these topics used in chronic pain. Neuromodulation and peripheral nerve stimulation is certainly an ever-expanding field and spilling over to the acute pain arena. There are published articles of different methods and approaches and equipment that has evolved to become more user friendly, enabling the procedures to be less time consuming. Watch this space!

Talking about success, we have brought you a “POCUS Spotlight” featuring the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST) exam, which is a useful and rapid diagnostic tool to increase your chances of success in managing trauma patients – a must read! 

---

Like the saying by Stephen R. Covey, “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”

ASRA Pain Medicine is a very close-knit family and yet a diverse one. Appreciating the values of our members, no matter what gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, clinical / academic / private practice settings, will expand the perspective of our society and bring us an ever-growing pool of talents. This enables us, as a society, to grow and evolve in a positive direction and bring you materials that all of you will appreciate and find applicable – just like the saying by Stephen R. Covey, “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” Therefore, we ought to embrace the values of our 5,000+ members from 60 different countries - one of the largest anesthesia subspecialty organizations.

Please join members of this unique community at our 21st Annual Pain Medicine Meeting being held November 17-19 in Orlando, where the theme is "Making Connections." Meeting Chair Dr. Amy Pearson has designed a program that brings an interdisciplinary faculty group together to discuss issues of relevance to our diverse and inclusive group. Topics include injuries in the workplace, equity in neuromodulation, and immigrant and refugee health. In addition, sessions will cover the role of the brain and consciousness in the development and treatment of chronic pain and pain mapping. Looking to the future, evolving neuromodulation devices, controlled substances as potential alleviators of pain, and minimally invasive techniques instead of steroids and surgery will also be addressed.

---

You will always meet so many experts in the field who are very approachable and can't wait to discuss their field of interests with you or help find ways to support and make your ideas grow

---

If you subspecialize in acute pain and regional anesthesia and thought to skip the fall meeting, think again! Topics such as neuromodulation and fluoroscopy-guided epidural catheters may be of interest to both acute and chronic pain specialists. For example, there is a hands-on workshop called "Basic Fluoroscopy for Thoracic and Lumbar Spine Injections for Acute and Chronic Pain," which will be of interest to the full pain community. The annual meetings are always packed with useful and practical educational materials and give all of us a chance to catch up and network. There is always an opportunity to discuss challenging cases or bounce research ideas around with some fantastic, experienced people at different institutions. You will always meet so many experts in the field who are very approachable and can't wait to discuss their field of interests with you or help find ways to support and make your ideas grow. Abstract submissions are due on August 23rd, and the early-bird registration deadline is October 6th.

I am very happy to announce that ASRA Pain Medicine Facebook Live is back! Our next one is on August 3rd at 8 pm ET. The topic is from one of our very popular “How I Do It” articles: “Costoclavicular Brachial Plexus Block,” by Dr. Manoj Karmakar from across the globe in Hong Kong! I would love to see you all there! To check it out, visit the social media platform of your choice: Facebook, Twitter,  LinkedIn, or YouTube.

So, wherever you are, please engage with us and feel free to send us your articles or infographics that you think would fit the ASRA Pain Medicine general membership, or if you would like to share your perspectives on the published articles in the ASRA Pain Medicine News as letters to the editor, please email ASRAEditor@asra.com. I would love to hear from you.