ESRA Trainee Activities at the World Congress 2023

This year, the ESRA trainee representatives were also involved in several activities that took place during the entire duration of the Congress.
It was the third time the ESRA trainees had their own Trainee’s Corner during the congress, and it can be stated that this was a great success. Since the program of last year with scanning sessions during the lunch break performed by experts attracted many visitors, we decided to repeat this program with some revision. Also, with help from Valkyrie Simulators, we could provide ultrasound phantoms so that the handling of ultrasound needles could be practiced at all times.

On the first day, we used the coffee break to draw the attention of trainees from all countries to our stand with our coffee offer and to establish new contacts.
During the first lunch break, Dr. Steve Coppens showed us his secrets of abdominal and thoracic wall blocks with great enthusiasm for 45 minutes. Not only trainees but also many consultants gathered around our corner to learn and refresh their knowledge.

The second day we started with a quiz during the coffee break to test our fellow trainee’s knowledge about regional anesthesia and many trainees participated. Since many participants were able to answer almost all the questions correctly, the winner had to be determined by the time that was required to answer the questions. The four winners received the ESRA book “Ultrasound-guided interventions in chronic pain management”. Later that day, during lunch break, Dr. Alain Delbos presented his secrets of the ankle block with his unique didactic skills. Again, many consultants joined, and our booth was crowded.

Also, the trainee’s reception took place in the evening of the second day. On top of the “Palais de Congres”, we enjoyed the reception with great food and drinks and used the time for networking with a beautiful view.

Friday was unfortunately already the last day with our Trainee’s Corner, but also very exciting for the trainee representatives, since our own session entitled “The future of RA Education: What can we learn from mistakes – The Role of Trainees” took place in the morning. The session was chaired by our ESRA Trainee representative Ana Patricia Pereira together with Dr. Pia Jæger. After a great introduction by Dr. Benjamin Fox, different case reports were presented by trainees from four different countries and gave great impulses for the following discussion.

During our last lunch break the famous Dr. Amit Pawa took his time to present his secrets of paravertebral blocks. As you can imagine, our booth was crowded again, and after presentation many questions were asked, which Dr. Pawa answered with enthusiasm.