3rd ESRA Cadaveric Workshop, Witten, Germany

The 3rd ESRA Cadaveric Workshop took place at the Department of Anatomy, University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany on 4th–5th November 2023.

Experienced ESRA instructors and EDRA examiners welcomed participants to this two-day practical workshop in applied regional anaesthesia.

Day 1 was dedicated to applied anatomy for the upper limb, thoracic, and abdominal wall. Anatomical lectures were complemented by a demonstration of ultrasound scanning, providing an overview of all commonly performed techniques in clinical practice. During the interscalene block scanning demonstration, even a common anatomical variation was discovered and explained by the instructor. Candidates had their questions answered on the spot during the demo session. All candidates underwent a short lecture and practical training on needle insertion using in-plane and out-of-plane needle insertion before the actual practical part of the workshop—needling on cadavers and scanning the live models.

Day 2 offered lectures, demonstrations, and scanning/needling practice for lower limb blocks and neuraxial/paravertebral anatomical regions, as well as free scanning practice at the end of the workshop.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all esteemed faculty members for their enthusiastic, passionate dedication of their free time to spread knowledge in regional anaesthesia and teach future experts in this dynamic field of anaesthesia.

Over 96% of the candidates found this workshop useful or extremely useful for their clinical practice. The course fulfilled their educational goals and expected learning outcomes. We would like to share a couple of candidates’ feedback with our readers:

The Faculty (from top to bottom, left to right): Ivan Kostadinov, Aysu Salviz, Vedran Frkovic, Alexandros Makris, Paul Kessler, Georg Feigl, Peter Merjavy & Event Manager Vivien Penning-Titze

💬 What was the best aspect of this event?

«Being able to gain a deeper understanding of the anatomical relationships and have an opprtunity to understand best techniques using cadavers for practice.»

«The combination of lectures, visualisation on anatomical dissections of the same topic as the lecture and practice on a cadaver of the same topic.»

«Such knowledgeable faculty who were able to share their skills with us.»

«The lecturers & instructors were the best aspect. Dr Aysu Salviz’s on-the-spot corrections during cadaveric sections and Dr. Paul Kessler’s insightful feedbacks while probing on models helped me understand how to best perform a block. Thanks to Dr Alexandros Makris, I feel more confident with the walk down technique. Dr. Peter Merjavy’s tips on what to do when encountering a patient with difficult anatomy had given me eureka moments. I found Dr Georg Feigl’s explanation of the anatomy very useful, because he has not only showed the structures but also given information about how these structures would look like ultrasonographically, talked about local anaesthetic volumes from anatomical point of view and commented on safety of different approaches of the blocks.»

«Timing on spot, possibility of interventions on cadavers, cadaver anatomy.»

«Highly informative, well organised.»

Thank you to all participants!