PLAN NOW TO ATTEND THE SAMBA MID YEAR MEETING! - TOP

Friday, October 12, 2007 (one day prior to the ASA)
San Francisco Hilton
Early registration ($50 Discount) ends September 19th! 

Avoid long onsite registration lines by registering on SAMBA’s Web Site.   Online registration and complete program information is available! Hotel Reservations: Please click on the link to take you directly to the ASA Housing Web Site.  The 22nd Mid Year Meeting is also presented in Adobe Acrobat format.

EXCITING CHANGES FOR THE eNEWSLETTER! - TOP

We are pleased to announce several changes to the eNewsletter that will gradually evolve over the upcoming year.

1. As part of our popular literature review section we will be adding commentary to 1-2 of the abstracts. This will help provide extra insight on several articles. Please see Dr. Kumar Belani's comments on the Pub Med abstracts in this issue. 
2. The discussion archive is currently in the process of being reorganized to ensure that questions are in their appropriate category for easy access. 
3. For now, we are no longer going to provide a patient question of the month.  As SAMBA’s information system evolves, we will determine how to provide quality information for our patients.
4. The Committee Chairs will be providing monthly updates on a rotating basis with the goal of keeping us up-to-date on pertinent issues
5. The Resident Committee will be contributing to the eNewsletter on a regular basis
6. The most recent question/answer section will be available in Podcast format. 

SMOKING CESSATION - TOP

As many of you may know, the ASA has dedicated a task force to Smoking Cessation, headed by David Warner, MD.  One of the first projects of the task force involves the initiation of a 3 month pilot study to begin in September 2007.  The goal of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of engaging anesthesia providers to become involved with smoking cessation efforts.
More specifically, anesthesia care providers at participating locales which currently include a mix of both private practice and academic groups are going to be asked to pursue the following with their patients.

1. Ask all your patients if they smoke, even if you already know the answer, to demonstrate that you think their smoking is significant.
2. Advise all your patients who smoke to quit smoking for as long as possible before and after surgery.  Tell them in a personalized manner why this is important to their anesthesia and surgery.
3. Refer your patients who smoke to Tobacco Quitlines by giving them the Quitline number (1-800-QUIT-NOW) and briefly explaining the services they offer.  The advantage of the quitlines is that anesthesiologists do not need to learn how to be tobacco specialists or spend much time discussing smoking.

At the end of the 3 month pilot study, anesthesia providers will then be ask to complete an evaluation of this process in the form of a survey. The goal of the evaluation is to solicit information from anesthesia providers as to the ease of this process of addressing their patients; not to evaluate how many quit smoking or called the hotlines.
Even though on the surface this may not seem an ideal match, there are many reasons we as anesthesiologist should spearhead this effort.

1. Cessation improves perioperative outcomes.
2. Great benefits may be gained if surgical patients continue to abstain postoperatively.
3. Provides us with the opportunity to increase public awareness of anesthesiologists as true perioperative physicians.
4. Brief physician interventions improve cessation, particularly during times consider to be “teachable moments” such as surgery
5. To capitalize on recent billing proposals that will enable reimbursement of interventions.

I would encourage all of us to become involve with this effort.  For more information you may either e-mail myself at jahana@ccf.org or go to the ASA web-site for more details.

Ali Jahan, MD
Editor of eNewsletter

OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE ASA PRACTICE GUIDELINES - TOP

I would like to thank all of you who were able to participate in our last journal club; The Role of Perioperative Beta-Blockers. It was an honor to have Drs. Dennis Mangano and PJ Devereaux to participate in the discussion of this ever evolving topic. Our next real-time broadcast will be on July 17th at 7 PM EST, the topic of discussion will be Obstructive Sleep Apnea and the Implications of the ASA Practice Guidelines.  I am inviting anyone who has interest in this topic to join in on the discussion by e-mailing me at jahana@ccf.org. Dr. Girish Joshi is scheduled to participate live on-line with this discussion. I will send instructions detailing the sign-in process allowing you to participate. Space is severely limited so please e-mail as soon as possible. And again, I challenge all to actively help promote our field and welcome your ideas.

Ali Jahan, MD
Editor of eNewsletter

A MESSAGE FROM THE RESIDENTS SECTION CHAIRMAN - TOP

The resident section of SAMBA has undergone exciting growth in the past year. At the annual convention in sunny San Diego, residents were treated to a variety of workshops, and the day-long Baxter Resident Leadership conference in which a select group of residents from many different training programs met to discuss new directions in leadership training and career opportunities.

The resident section also convened the annual committee meeting to appoint new board members and discuss future goals of the group. Dr. Ruchir Gupta was elected chairperson-elect of the resident section, and expressed enthusiasm regarding the coming year. Additionally, many new ideas regarding mentorship and organizational involvement were discussed.

Residents interested in SAMBA are encouraged to contact current resident section chairman Alan Bielsky (alan-bielsky@md.northwestern.edu). The resident section looks forward to continued expansion and involvement in the resident section of SAMBA!

THE SAMBA WEB-BASED OUTCOMES DATABASE - TOP

SAMBA has committed to creating a web-based registry of activity and outcomes in ambulatory surgery and anesthesia that will allow identification of national benchmarks and 'best practices'. The database will undergo testing in pilot sites beginning in August and should be available for display at the SAMBA booth at the ASA. Our goal is to have it available for broader subscription use by members beginning in January 2008. Watch the SAMBA website for sample display beginning in early August. Features will include the following topics:

1. Simple Data Entry
2. Anonymous and HIPAA Compliant
3. Reports
4. QA Program Support
5. Accreditation
6. National Benchmarks and Best Practices

21ST ANNUAL MEETING OF OPHTHALMIC ANESTHESIA SOCIETY - TOP

September 28-30, 2007
The Conrad Chicago Hotel

Call 805-534-0300 or visit www.EyeAnesthesia.org