VOLUME 33, ISSUE 2

My kids were raised with many musical opportunities and have developed many musical talents over the years, mostly thanks to my wife’s encouragement. I have always had an appreciation for music, but had never devoted the time to develop any meaningful musical skills. Thanks to encouragement from some musically talented colleagues, I have recently taken up a new hobby of learning to play the drums. Though my skills are still in the early development phase, I have enjoyed learning over the past 6 months and hope to continue to develop in this area. My interest in drumming reminds me that, as a specialty, despite many adversities that we have faced, our members have continued to “beat the drum” and get the work done that is needed to provide our patients with the best care. Our TSA leadership and members have never stopped beating the drums of safety, patient care, and advocacy for our specialty.

The world that we all live in is ever changing. There are many things occurring around us that impact how we live our lives. The COVID pandemic and the restrictions surrounding it seem to be easing off. Most knowledgeable people that I speak with are cautiously optimistic that the immunity from previous exposure as well as the seemingly very effective vaccines have resulted in a sharp downturn in the number of severe cases of COVID-19. That has certainly been the case at the hospitals where I have privileges. The past year has been difficult for our entire society and I am hopeful for a day when these things will be completely in our rear view mirror. I know that our members have risen above and tackled many new and very unusual problems in the face of these changes. I have a great sense of pride in my colleagues across the state, nation, and world who have encountered this adversity with professionalism and courage. Well done!

The rest of our world has not stood still and we have seen many other changes. In the educational realm, the University of Texas System has plans in place to establish a new medical school in Tyler. Tyler has long had a thriving medical community and is an excellent area to expand medical education opportunities. This will be the state’s 16th medical school when it begins enrollment for a projected 2023 opening. In addition to a new medical school, there are also plans in place to open additional residency programs. I am not aware of all of the sites that have plans, but I know that plans are in place to open a program in Fort Worth at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center that will be affiliated with the Texas Christian University / University of North Texas allopathic medical school, which recently opened. In addition, plans also are in place to add a residency program in the expanding Tyler medical community. I have also heard that colleagues in Houston are exploring options for an additional residency program in the Texas Medical Center. As we learn more information about these new programs, we will certainly share more information.

The American Board of Anesthesiology has recently announced that it will be offering subspecialty certification in adult cardiac anesthesiology, with the first exam being administered as early as 2023. It will be interesting to see how this evolves in conjunction with the transesophageal echocardiography certification exam administered by the National Board of Echocardiography, which has previously served as the de facto certification exam for those who specialize in cardiac anesthesiology.

In other interesting news, it appears that Pacira Biosciences, the makers of the liposomal bupivacaine formulation Exparel, have filed a lawsuit against the American Society of Anesthesiologists and several authors who published in the February 2021 issue of Anesthesiology 1-4. The pharmaceutical company claims that the articles made false and misleading statements regarding the effectiveness of the liposomal bupivacaine and also failed to disclose conflicts of interest of the authors. I would encourage our members to read the articles as well as the details of the lawsuit in order to arrive at their own conclusions. I find it very interesting that Pacira also chose to include residents in training as defendants in this lawsuit. I have certainly not seen a lawsuit such as this occur in my career. I think that our readers would enjoy finding out more about this particular topic. I have provided references below.

In other news, the Annual Meeting of the TSA will occur in person this year September 9th through the 12th in San Antonio at the JW Marriott Resort. It will be nice to get our group back together after having last year’s meeting be disrupted by COVID. I look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones this year. Please consider joining us if you are able.

In this issue, we continue the “On the Shoulders of Giants: Legends of Texas Anesthesiology” series with a feature on Dr. Francis Joseph Dannemiller, a colleague who had education at the forefront of his illustrious career. Other topics covered in this edition include education and social media, wellness and burnout, postoperative delirium, kidney transplant protocols, modeling professionalism, aspects of the opioid crisis, NPO considerations in pediatrics, and emergency preparation for the hurricane season. I hope that you find content in this issue that sparks your interest.

Thanks so much to those of you who faithfully read the TSA Newsletter. The editorial board members and staff put a lot of work into producing a high quality product for our membership. I think that this edition will be no different. I hope that we can all continue to bang on the drums of anesthesiology that are fulfilling for us and that help keep our patients safe.

I wish you all the best!