Department of Anesthesiology

Millions of patients in intensive care units each year develop delirium during their hospitalization and often leave the hospital with cognitive deficits similar to those suffering from traumatic brain injury or mild Alzheimer’s disease.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center will partner with the Tennessee Department of Health to offer workplace-based education to health professionals across the state via QuizTime, a smartphone application developed at VUMC. This continuing education activity will focus on proper utilization of opioid and non-opioid therapies in managing pain.

One out of five deaths within 30 days of surgery are associated with a complication, suggesting that prevention and better treatment of common complications will improve postoperative mortality rates.

The Department of Anesthesiology is reconfiguring its leadership structure, partly in response to the recent appointment of department chair Warren Sandberg, MD, PhD, as VUAH Co-Chief of Staff for Perioperative and Critical Care Services. Mark Rice, MD, has been appointed Executive Vice Chair and Amy Robertson, MD, has been appointed Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs.

David Chestnut, MD, received the Society for Obstetric Anesthesiology and Perinatology’s Distinguished Service Award during the group’s annual meeting in May.

A drug in use clinically to help make vaccines more effective may be a powerful new tool for fighting antibiotic-resistant infections.

Using techniques to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons, Vanderbilt investigators are probing the brain’s reward circuitry.