Eight research teams were awarded prizes for their excellence in novelty, significance, approach, interest of the topic to the specialty, and impact of the findings on the specialty. The first prize went to Dr. Karuna Wongtangman, previously the department's Anesthesiology Quality Improvement Fellow, for her project, “Reduction in same-day case cancellation and costs in ambulatory surgery by implementation of a bundle intervention.” Dr. Wontangman’s work, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia, focuses on an interprofessional bundle intervention that has led to a reduction in same-day surgery cancellations and cost savings at Montefiore’s Hutchinson Ambulatory Surgery Center.  

The second prize went to Dr. Fernando Sepulveda Santiago, previously an Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesia Fellow, and Digital Health Lab Chief Dr. Omid Azimaraghi for their project, “Enhanced recovery after surgery protocol and postoperative opioid prescribing after cardiac surgery: an interrupted time series analysis.” Drs. Sepulveda and Azimaraghi analyzed the effects of the multidisciplinary Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocol on perioperative opioid administration and prescriptions. They found that the ERAS protocol, which utilizes a multimodal approach to perioperative pain management, led to a decrease in intraoperative and postoperative opioid administration and prescriptions.    

The Anesthesiology Research Committee awarded third prize to six different teams: 

• Dr. Vivek Kumar: “The impact of residency training level on early postoperative desaturation: A retrospective multicenter cohort study”  

Dr. Kumar – who presented his research at the Anesthesiology Academic Night – and his team analyzed retrospective data from more than 140,000 patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery to evaluate their postoperative respiratory outcomes in relation to experience level of anesthesiology residents who cared for them during their surgery. The researchers found that patients who were extubated by junior residents had increased odds of early postoperative desaturation. However, as the postoperative desaturation rate decreased from junior to non-junior residents, the researchers found a paralleled increased risk of postoperative respiratory complications.  

• Dr. Philipp Fassbender: “Development of a tool to assess the impact of changes in anesthesia staff assignments on revenue and costs of anesthesia services”  

Dr. Fassbender, Department of Anesthesiology Vice Chair of Perioperative Medicine, and his team implemented a bundle intervention to optimize anesthesia providers’ staffing assignments and created a revenue cost estimation tool to evaluate the efficacy of the interventions. The bundle intervention resulted in more optimal staff assignments and higher billable anesthesia units.  

• Dr. William Jackson: “Effect of intraoperative dexmedetomidine on post anaesthesia care unit length of stay and costs in paediatric patients”    

Dr. Jackson, Pediatric Anesthesia Division Chief, and his team conducted a hospital registry study and analyzed intraoperative dexmedetomidine use in more than 18,500 paediatric patients and found that patients who received the drug had a longer postoperative length of stay compared to patients who did not receive dexmedetomidine. Additionally, the researchers’ analysis showed there were higher direct hospital costs for patients who received dexmedetomidine compared to those who did not receive the drug. 

• Jacqueline Labins, M4, Albert Einstein College of Medicine: “Exercise in Cardiothoracic Prehabilitation: A Review of the Current Landscape”  

In collaboration with the Montefiore Einstein Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, Ms. Labins conducted a literature review of exercise in prehabilitation specifically for patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery. The review concluded that prehabilitation exercises including aerobic, breathing, strength training, mobility training, and balance exercises were statistically significant in improving patients’ pre- and post-operative respiratory function and hospital length of stay. 

• Katherine McPherson, M2, Albert Einstein College of Medicine: “Establishment and Evaluation of a Semi-Automated Data Extraction Methodology for Intraoperative Anesthesia Monitoring Data Collection”  

In this project, Ms. McPherson worked together with Attending Pediatric Anesthesiologist Dr. Jerry Chao to develop a semi-automated tool to extract data on intraoperative anesthesia monitoring. The semi-automated data extraction methodology was used to extract more than 2,200 unique data points from 36.8 hours of anesthesia monitoring. The extraction tool was shown to be effective with only 0.04% discrepancy between the semi-automated tool and manual data extraction.  

• Dr. Amaresh Vydyanathan and Research Coordinator Kateryna Slinchenkova: “Meta-Analysis of Radio frequency Ablation of Genicular Nerves to Improve Knee function” 

Dr. Vydyanathan, Anesthesiology Research Coordinator Ms. Slinchenkova, and fellow researchers conducted a meta-analysis of eight studies including more than 650 patients to study the impact of radiofrequency ablation of genicular nerves on knee function. They found that the treatment significantly improved pain scores at both one month and six months post-procedure. With more than 80% of individuals over the age of 85 suffering from knee osteoarthritis, radiofrequency ablation has been shown to be an effective treatment alternative to pharmacological management or knee replacement surgery.