Cite as: Ip V. Editor's corner. ASRA Pain Medicine News 2022;47. https://doi.org/10.52211/asra050122.014  

It is fantastic that the 47th ASRA Pain Medicine Spring meeting in Las Vegas could be held in-person so successfully and safely despite the COVID-19 pandemic still looming upon us. Most places around the world are being cautiously optimistic and starting to loosen COVID-19 restrictions. As we start getting used to how this new normal is when we can see people’s faces again, we have not forgotten some fundamental aspects that we learned from this pandemic. Just like what Sir Winston Churchill said as he was working to form the United Nations after World War II, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,'’ we have learned to pay more attention to hand sanitize often and refrain from going to work when sick. More importantly, regional anesthesia plays a huge part in avoiding aerosol-generating procedures during COVID-19, and increased use of ambulatory regional anesthesia for early discharge to free up bed space in many institutions are welcomed changes. Along with the advantages that regional anesthesia brings regarding safety and helping to facilitate hospital bed management, we also should embrace it for the opioid-sparing and environmental sustainability advantages. Even when practicing regional anesthesia, we should be cognizant that the accompanying sedation practice and oxygen usage should be environmentally sustainable. This is not to say that all types of anesthesia have the same carbon footprint. I am very excited to see articles such as the one on desflurane reduction in this edition of ASRA Pain Medicine News as regional anesthesiologists should be leaders toward the direction of environmental sustainable anesthesia.

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Just like what Sir Winston Churchill said as he was working to form the United Nations after World War II, “Never let a good crisis go to waste'’

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As of this spring, I have taken on the new role as editor of the ASRA Pain Medicine Newsletter. First of all, I would like to thank Dr. Dalia Elmofty for her hard work in the past year as editor, the editorial team (Dr. Kwesi Kwofie, Dr. Reda Tolba, Dr. Tony Machi, Dr. Kellie Jaremko, Anne Snively, and Athena Ermidis), as well as the rest of the ASRA Pain Medicine News team (Dr. Yashar Eshraghi, Dr. Veena Graff, Dr. Jerry Jones, Dr. Nathalie Lunden, Dr. Sudheer Potru, Dr. Harsha Shanthana, Dr. James Turner, Dr. Beth VanderWielen, Dr. Clara Lobo, Dr. Amit Pawa, and Dr. Sabrina Oukil).

I see the opportunity to deliver up-to-date information about our society, helping readers to develop and solidify their existing knowledge in regional anesthesia, and further embracing diversity and inclusion for our ASRA Pain Medicine community in acute and chronic pain medicine, as well as private practice. Having been part of the team since 2018, I understand how much hard work and constant dedication is required to produce each edition of the newsletter.

In this edition, we have some thought-provoking articles that remind us to reflect on our own practice and to make way for innovative ideas and improvement in patient care. My mission is to continue to bring contents that you enjoy and find captivating.