2024 Anesthesia Family Day

August 20, 2024

The Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Management returned after a COVID pause for their 2nd Anesthesia Family Day. This event offered a rare opportunity for family and loved ones to get a glimpse into our role as caregivers in a clinical setting. Nearly 300 faculty, AAs, CRNAs, residents, and their families attended this event.

Registration started with the first group at the beautiful 15th floor lobby of the Memorial Hermann Ambulatory Surgery Center opening remarks from Omonele Nwokolo, MD and Sabina Khan MD. Then each group were escorted to the operating rooms area where multiple interactive stations were set up for Pre-Op, Intraop, PACU, Ultrasound and Research stations.

Pre-Op Area: Guests could see preoperative assessment questions, how an IV works assess their own Mallampati score, and use stethoscopes to listen to heart and lung sounds.

Airway Tour: Various options for oxygen delivery/airway management were available to compare and contrast, such as endotracheal tubes, laryngeal mask airways, nasal cannulas, and oral airways. Guests practiced mask ventilation on mannequins, and fiberoptic scopes were used to look inside closed containers demonstrating how they can be used to visualize otherwise hidden structures.

Operating Room: Adults and children helped with induction of our “patient” (an oversized teddy bear) by placing monitors, pre-oxygenating, learning how to control IV fluids, giving medications, and controlling the OR table.

Ultrasound Demonstrations with the ultrasound machine included identifying arteries, veins, and nerves. Participants could use the ultrasound on a volunteer model or even themselves.

PACU: Guests were able to see what and how a post op patient is recovered.

Research: The research team set up microscopes and fun experiments with different chemical reactions for the guests.

Following the hands-on morning session, guests returned to the lobby for lunch and socializing with the second group who started their hands on experience after lunch. We would like to thank our colleagues in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Management at McGovern, UTHealth Alumni Engagement, McGovern Medical School Anesthesiology Interest Group Students, and Brian Horak CEO Memorial Hermann Surgery Center, TMC for making this day such a wonderful success.