Regional Anesthesia

The Regional Anesthesia Program at the University of Chicago brings together more than 10 faculty members with dedicated expertise and interest in regional anesthesia and acute pain management. The program provides comprehensive perioperative care using ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks, fascial plane blocks, neuraxial techniques, and continuous peripheral nerve catheters to improve pain control, facilitate recovery, and reduce reliance on systemic opioids. These techniques support a wide range of orthopedic procedures, including joint replacement, sports medicine surgery and orthopedic trauma as well as general, urologic, thoracic, breast and other complex surgical cases. Working collaboratively with surgeons, perioperative nurses, pharmacists, anesthesia technicians, and clinical informatics teams, the program continues to develop standardized approaches to block delivery, communication, documentation, and postoperative follow-up. Resident education is a central part of the program and includes a structured regional anesthesia of rotation, formal orientation, and daily hands-on ultrasound teaching in the operating rooms and regional anesthesia areas. Residents gain progressive experience with both foundational and advanced regional techniques while learning patient selection, procedural safety, and perioperative pain-management principles, and essential post-op follow-up. The program is also actively engaged in ongoing quality-improvement and clinical research initiatives focused on standardizing regional anesthesia workflows and evaluating patient outcomes.