Like all subspecialty societies, the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA) was strongly impacted by the recent COVID pandemic. However, I feel that the society was able to emerge from the pandemic in a better, stronger place. We have experienced growth in both our membership and attendance at live meetings. Our members, eager to engage, have empowered us through meaningful projects and clamored for more!

Our annual meeting is one of our premier events. In 2024, we will be moving our meeting to the east coast, to Savannah, Georgia, at the De Soto Hotel on May 2-4. We will have old favorites like Cases from the Real World and a review of the pertinent ambulatory literature, as well as new favorites in the Past-Presidents Snap Panel and spicy pro/con debates. This year, we will pit Drs. BobbieJean Sweitzer and Girish Joshi head-to-head for their opinions regarding whether the ASA’s recommendations for GLP-1 inhibitors are enough. (I am bringing popcorn!) New in 2024, we are bringing back our endowed Frontiers Lectureship, with a presentation by Guy Weinberg, MD, the father of lipid rescue for local anesthetic toxicity. We have already decided to return to the Arizona Biltmore for our 2025 meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. In the past, we held fall meetings the Friday before the ASA annual meeting. Our Meetings Committee feels the time is right to do so again with a medical directors meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This will replace our winter offering on the same topic.

SAMBA is known for guidelines that are valuable to both our academic and private practice members. Our most notable are for postoperative nausea and vomiting and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee has just released an update of the diabetes management for ambulatory surgery guidelines, and our Pediatric Anesthesia Committee wrote ambulatory tonsillectomy guidelines that have been accepted for publication. The Pediatric Anesthesia Committee is tackling pediatric obesity next, and the Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee is updating the OSA guidelines in combination with the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists and the Society of Anesthesia and Sleep Medicine. All of that occurred while members of our Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) Committee participated in ASA’s new guidelines on that topic.

Education does not stop there. At the beginning of the pandemic, SAMBA became a valued resource, especially to our private practice members for webinar offerings regarding COVID-19. We continued strong offerings in traditional webinars, which can be accessed by members through our website. Our Education Committee started a very popular email offering called “Did you Know?” These are short emails delivered monthly on topics such as blood pressure measurements in post-mastectomy-sided arm, effects of cannabinoids on pain medications, and tranexamic acid use in outpatient total joint replacements.

A Dental Anesthesia Committee was recently established so practitioners could share experiences and best practices in this field and bring awareness to the shortage of dental anesthesia providers. It is open to anesthesiologists and dental anesthesiologists, and we hope the committee will raise the level of education for all. The Resident Committee is getting a reboot, as we are receiving more interest from young physicians and want to keep them engaged and aware of the ambulatory practitioner’s unique skills. The Education Committee has created a new mentorship program for trainees and new practitioners who are looking for advice in their practices and careers.

SAMBA has partnered with the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University to create a mini-Master of Business Administration graduate certificate program. The coursework will be mostly virtual and given by the faculty at Fisher; however, the topics and clinical applications will be driven by an advisory council of SAMBA members. It is a unique offering that can be used toward earning a full MBA, but also gives new and experienced medical directors education in useful topics on business planning, conflict resolution, and basic financing education. We expect the inaugural class to take place in 2024. Jarrett Heard, MD, MBA, is leading these efforts for us.

Lastly, it is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing in April of a former president and one of the giants in ambulatory anesthesia. Rebecca “Ricky” Twersky, MD, MPH, was a mentor to many and one of our guiding leaders. Her passion was to inspire young anesthesiologists, especially women, and mentor their careers. She was very active in the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists and the PostGraduate Assembly and impacted many in our field. To that end, her family started the Dr. Rebecca S. Twersky Research Award, which will allow SAMBA to offer a $2,000 prize to an early-career researcher for the best project submitted to our annual meeting. The hope is to continue this award into perpetuity, and there is an option on our website (SAMBAhq.org) to donate.

Nothing makes me prouder than to be involved with and lead this dynamic subspecialty group. If you are looking for great discourse, access to national leaders in ambulatory anesthesia, and practical wisdom in ambulatory surgery, this is the place for you. Remember, everyone does ambulatory cases, but not everyone does ambulatory anesthesia.