HCB News: How do you think clinicians will use ultrasound-guided nerve blocks in the future? How will it evolve?
AN: When I started as an emergency physician, ultrasound-guided nerve blocks were niche. Now it’s a hot topic in emergency medicine because we’ve realized that pain management in the opioid epidemic is complicated and an integral part of our job. It’s part and parcel of the emergency physician’s job to treat pain in a multimodal fashion, be it intravenous medications or nerve blocks. Organizations like the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) recognized the need for emergency doctors to integrate this skill into their practice. It’s slowly becoming more common as centers are teaching all their clinicians how to perform ultrasound-guided nerve blocks. Large health systems like Kaiser Northern California have protocolized ultrasound-guided femoral nerve blocks for hip fractures in their emergency departments. I think the change has started and I am very excited to see smart clinicians pushing for a patient-centered outcome – better safe pain management.

HCB News: What sort of technological changes do you foresee happening or needing to happen to better accommodate this use of ultrasound for pain management?

AN: I think we’re at the nexus or tipping point for ultrasound. In the next couple of years or so, we will see exceptional technologists build probes that are inexpensive, easy to use, and easily integrated into the current medical IT infrastructure. To use a camera analogy, the functionality and technology on our camera phones rival that of the larger DSL cameras that many of us owned a decade ago. This miniaturization comes from both hardware and software innovation. I think this is quickly happening in the world of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). The beauty of this technology is that, along with making products that every physician will carry in their pocket, it will allow for improved patient care. Doctors, nurses, and paramedics will detect diseases earlier, make more objective decisions based on imaging, and change the way we will practice medicine. I am really excited for the future of medicine.

Back to HCB News

Ultrasound Homepage