ASRA: Regional Society Growing All Over the World

The American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA) is a vibrant and growing educational society with activities on numerous fronts. ASRA’s mission is to associate physician and scientists who are engaged in regional anesthesia for surgery, obstetrics and pain medicine, to encourage education and research in these areas for the benefit of physicians and the public, and to publish the highest quality scientific information on these subjects.

Annual Educational Meetings
ASRA just completed its Fall Pain Meeting, which took place on November 16-19, 2006, in San Francisco. This was the largest ASRA pain medicine meeting ever, with a total of 773 registrants. The meeting was highlighted by the first-ever cadaver-based workshop for fellows, refresher course lectures incorporating basic science and clinical practice, a pain-and-the-law session with a mock trial featuring attorneys Mr. Thomas Brandi and Mr. Casey Koffman, an intensive low-back pain workshop and a president’s reception held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The next meeting is the Spring Annual Meeting, which will be held on April 19-22, 2007, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This meeting will be highlighted by an outstanding selection of refresher courses, a large group of ultrasound workshops as well as an ASRA-European Society of Regional Anaesthesia update on ultrasound, sessions on education and re-education in regional anesthesia, and a consensus conference on neuraxial anesthesia and anticoagulation. This meeting will introduce the first “meeting within a meeting” to address the educational needs of acute postoperative pain nurses. The meeting also will feature a Friday night blues event with Rich Cohen and the Blues Prescription and a Saturday night president’s reception at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park.

The next Fall Pain Meeting will be held on November 15-18, 2007, at the Boca Raton Resort and Club in Boca Raton, Florida.

Resident Fellow Activities
ASRA is expanding its efforts to provide educational programs directed to residents and fellows in training. These efforts have included “Cracker Barrel” sessions, lectures, luncheons and most recently a cadaver-based workshop for fellows at the 2006 Fall Pain Meeting. In addition ASRA provides five $1,000 travel awards for residents submitting abstracts for presentation at each of the annual meetings.

Web-Based Education
ASRA has updated and invigorated its Web site. This new Web site includes a patient information session with frequently asked questions about regional anesthesia and chronic pain. ASRA also is developing a group of ASRA-branded educational videos covering both regional anesthesia and chronic pain topics.

‘Added Value’ of Membership
ASRA has recently established a Committee on Membership to develop novel products and initiatives. For the first time, an electronic survey of the “value” of membership was conducted among the constituency of ASRA.

From this instructive survey of the members, several products, programs and enduring materials are now in development or have been completed. These include: 1) a brochure defining the Society and the benefits of membership (completed); 2) a regional anesthesia educational “packet” for distribution to residency program directors (in development); 3) generation of anatomic medical illustrations for potential use by the membership (in development); and 4) development of a portfolio of enduring educational materials for the membership.

Leadership
ASRA is led by a capable and dynamic board of directors, including President Richard W. Rosenquist, M.D., President-Elect F. Michael Ferrante, M.D., Treasurer Vincent W.S. Chan, M.D., Assistant Treasurer Julia E. Pollock, M.D., Past President Terese T. Horlocker, M.D., and board members Oscar A. de Leon-Casasola, M.D., Mark A. Huntoon, M.D., Joseph M. Neal, M.D., Timothy J. Ness, M.D., James P. Rathmell, M.D., and Richard L. Rauck, M.D. The leadership of the organization will transition following the Spring Annual Meeting in April 2007, and the new president will be Dr. Ferrante.

ASRA is an active and growing organization with numerous benefits for its members. On behalf of the leadership of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, we wish to solicit your interest, feedback and support and hope that we will have the opportunity to see you at future educational meetings of Society.

Please send your comments or suggestions to <richard-rosenquist@uiowa.edu> or <MFerrante@mednet.ucla.edu>.

Richard W. Rosenquist, M.D., is Professor of Anesthesia and Director, Pain Medicine Division, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa.

F. Michael Ferrante, M.D., is Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Medicine, Director, UCLA Pain Management Center, University of California, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California.