Our residents rotate through a variety of locations, including UNC’s main hospital, UNC Hillsborough Hospital, and UNC Ambulatory Care Center to gain optimal experience in regional anesthesia. Our regional department performs approximately 4,000 nerve blocks per year. Each resident far exceeds the minimum number of nerve blocks required by the ACGME. Upon leaving UNC, our graduates often thrive as experts in ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia in their respective practices.
While we do have a Regional Anesthesia Fellowship (https://www.med.unc.edu/anesthesiology/education/regional-fellowship/), residents have priority in performing all nerve block procedures, with the regional fellows and attendings largely functioning as teachers.
The Regional Anesthesia Department at UNC features a diverse group of faculty who have trained at 16 different residency programs and 7 different regional fellowship programs. UNC is well represented by numerous faculty members serving in leadership roles within the American Society of Regional Anesthesia (ASRA), including the executive board, faculty speakers, faculty development committee members, and head organizers for the quarterly ASRA journal club. Our faculty also organizes the annual World Day of Regional Anesthesia Conference (https://www.med.unc.edu/anesthesiology/first-world-day-regional-anesthesia/).
We also have a full-time regional anesthesia nurse, whose role is to assist the regional service with patient positioning, charting and stocking equipment, allowing the resident to focus their attention on learning and performing procedures.