California Society of Anesthesiologists

CSA News

National opioid group addresses challenge of addiction and pain management

When Stanford anesthesiologist Edward Mariano, MD, joined the National Academy of Medicine's Action Collaborative to Combat the U.S. Opioid Epidemic last year, he and his colleagues began examining the available guidelines limiting how doctors should prescribe the drugs.

The buzz about Meghan Markle’s birth plan has highlighted the stigma around home births

“The USA does not have the same system as, say, Denmark, which is often referenced for low incidence of problems with home births by midwives,” Mark Zakowski, anesthesiologist and president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology in Los Angeles, said in an email. “Denmark has integrated care and strict criteria for who may have home birth versus hospital birth.”

Tracing the real root of America's opioid crisis

Opioids are flooding into the United States in such vast quantities that President Trump declared a “National Health Emergency” in October 2017. Yet, despite some tales to the contrary, the opioid crisis is literally manufactured in places like Mexico. China, too. In their factories, fentanyl and other copycat drugs are produced in staggering amounts. And they’re decimating us.

Questions to Ask Before You Have Anesthesia

What to expect and how to prepare for procedures that involve these powerful pain blocking drugs.

Changes Coming to MOC: Will Physicians Get Relief?

Anger and near-revolt were the obvious emotions of physicians a few years ago when the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) made it tougher and more expensive to attain maintenance of certification (MOC).