5 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U N E 2 0 1 9
I
f your anesthesia providers rely on inhaled anesthetics and
opioids, they're behind the times. As Gary Lawson, MD, says:
"I used to knock out patients. Now I knock out nerves." His
email is gaswarrior@hotmail.com, but Dr. Lawson, chief anes-
thesiologist of the Surgery Center of Naples (Fla.), has all but
hung up his mask. He prefers to do his cases under regional anesthe-
sia, which often obviates the need for opioids.
"We will knock out any part of the body that we can as opposed to
general. That's what we like to do and we've trained all our providers
to do," says Dr. Lawson, president of Quantum Anesthesia, which
Post-op Pain Pearls
A review of strategies and studies on managing surgical pain.
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
• OPIOID-SPARING Results from a pilot study performed at the University of Michigan showed that more than half of patients
used no opioids after their operations — and almost all of the patients reported their pain was manageable.
