By Project Lead the Way This fall, anesthesiology residents from UCLA Medical Center led a series of engaging, hands-on workshops for nearly 100 high school students in the Los Angeles area who are currently taking PLTW Biomedical Science courses, providing an exciting glimpse into the world of medicine. The workshops focused on life-saving techniques, such […]

By CSA Lobbyist Bryce Docherty Summary: This has been an extremely busy year for CSA “Under the Dome” as we have engaged in legislative and regulatory efforts on multiple fronts. Unfortunately, much of our activity was directed to push back on efforts by the newly re-named California Association of Nurse Anesthesiology to expand CRNA’s scope […]

ASA week is approaching, and we at CSA believe it’s the perfect opportunity to highlight the Californian recipients of the ASA’s Diversity Mentoring Grant, who will be celebrated at a reception in Philadelphia. This year was particularly competitive, with 40 applications submitted. The Californian winners include the following: We persuaded several of these grant recipients […]

By Ana Maria Crawford, MD, FASA “One of the crucial factors in patient safety is real time, reliable monitoring of patients under anesthetic,” – Grainne Harrington for BBC World Service Health Check. (Source: https://www.lifebox.org/news/lifebox-features-on-the-bbc/). Imagine providing sedation and anesthesia without knowing the patient’s oxygen saturation or seeing that reassuring end-tidal CO2 tracing on your monitor. […]

By Christine Doyle, MD, CHCI, FASA, ASA Director for California The ASA held the Annual Board Meeting over the weekend of August 17/18, at the Loews O’Hare. It was the “safest” any of us have felt at the hotel, as there were about 70 Secret Service K-9 teams at the hotel, in preparation for the […]

“Hon?” “I’m in a meeting, is this important?” “Where is the extra Narcan?” “What? Wait what do you mean, what is going on?” “I think C overdosed. I gave him the Narcan you gave this morning before you left for your meeting. He’s breathing now, but not waking up”. “You have to call 911, you […]

By Niti Pawar, MD, and Odmara Barreto Chang, MD, PhD History of Neuromonitoring The use of intraoperative electroencephalogram (EEG) dates back to 1937 when Dr. Gibbs and colleagues demonstrated that there were clinical and electroencephalogram (EEG) changes with increasing anesthetic doses, noting that “a practical application of these observations might be the use of EEG […]

By Dr. Todd Primack, Chair, Legislative and Practice Affairs Division, CSA As anesthesiologists, we are the cornerstone of safe patient care. We dedicate our careers to providing the highest standard of care, ensuring optimal patient outcomes before, during, and after surgery. However, this commitment is constantly challenged. This year alone, we faced legislation that threatened […]

By Todd Primack, DO, FASA, Chair, Legislative and Practice Affairs Division CSA leadership is engaged in an effort at the state and local levels concerning the delivery of anesthesia services in the San Joaquin Valley. Recent investigations by the California Department of Public Health and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services demonstrated that patients were […]