Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine Fellowship

Fellows will receive broad hands-on training in single injection and continuous peripheral nerve blocks as well as neuraxial anesthesia and analgesia. While ultrasound-guided techniques are emphasized, nerve stimulation techniques are incorporated into the training experience. Fellows can also expect to gain extensive experience in performing and managing thoracic epidurals, including patient-controlled epidural analgesia, as part of our comprehensive approach to acute pain management.

Fellows will have the opportunity to rotate in community-based hospital settings to increase experience in pediatric regional anesthesia and acute pain management, which complements the training at UC Irvine School of Medicine.

Rotations are offered at:

• Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center
• Kaiser Permanente Downey

Clinical experience is complemented with structured didactics, including:

• Problem-based learning discussions
• Journal club
• Grand rounds
• Live model workshops

Educational sessions provide an overview of regional anesthesiology and acute pain medicine topics. Additionally, fellows will take an active role as educators to residents and develop educator techniques that will enhance the learning experience for the trainees.

Depending on availability, fellows can participate in the Global Outreach Initiative with faculty to provide safe anesthesia care in underserved areas of the world.

Fellows will be assigned to cases in the operating room as attending anesthesiologists. They will gain experience providing anesthetic care to a diverse patient population, allowing them to work independently. Fellows will be able to supervise and teach residents and medically direct Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) within a collaborative team-based environment.

During training, fellows will be under the supervision of an attending faculty while on the acute pain and regional anesthesiology services.

Acute Pain Service (APS)

Fellows will be an integral member of the APS team, where they will gain valuable leadership skills to coordinate a team-based patient care approach and learn the management of acute pain. Fellows will help lead patient rounds to manage continuous peripheral nerve block catheters and thoracic epidurals, as well as to provide acute pain consultations for management of postoperative, cancer and trauma-related pain.

Regional Anesthesia Service

The Regional Anesthesia Service provides regional anesthesia in dedicated preoperative block areas. The preoperative block areas are each equipped with the capacity for full monitoring, allowing sterile procedures to be performed preoperatively, maximizing patient safety and minimizing disruption to the flow of operating rooms. Fellows will also conduct regional blocks at the outpatient surgery center in the general preoperative area. Each site is equipped with dedicated ultrasound machines with a variety of transducers for superficial to deep nerve blocks.

Fellows have dedicated research faculty support and mentorship for scholarly activities and quality improvement projects. Fellows are strongly encouraged to submit abstracts and present cases. We provide financial support for travel to national conferences to present research.