Regional Division

  • Dr. Christopher Sharrow and Dr. Ashley Shilling use the Ultrasound to place a patient's nerve block.

    Dr. Ashley Shilling, MD, Regional Anesthesia Division Chief, & Dr. Chris Sharrow, MD perform a guided ultrasound block.

  • University of Virginia Dr. Christopher Sharrow and Dr. Ashley Shilling place a patient's nerve block.

    Dr. Ashley Shilling, MD, Regional Anesthesia Division Chief, & Dr. Chris Sharrow, MD place the block on a patient.

  • University of Virginia Dr. Paul DeMarco instructs a resident during a regional anesthesia procedure.

    Dr. Paul DeMarco, MD instructs a resident during a Regional Anesthesia procedure.

  • University of Virginia Regional Anesthesiology procedure

    Dr. Paul DeMarco, MD finesses placing a block with a resident.

  • University of Virginia Regional Anesthesiology Hallway Consult

    Dr. Ebony Hilton, MD, Dr. Ashley Shilling, MD, & Dr. Paul DeMarco discuss a case at the Outpatient Surgery Center.

  • University of Virginia Regional Anesthesiology Doctors consult

    Dr. Peter Amato, MD teaches epidural placement on the Acute Pain Service.

  • University of Virginia Regional Anesthesiology Doctors consult

    Acute Pain Service Leadership Team (r to l): Dr. Peter Amato, MD, Steve Morton, RN, & Colleen Blanchard, NP, consult.

About

The Regional and Acute Pain Division at the University of Virginia (UVA) comprises eleven faculty whose primary passions include treating our patients’ acute pain needs with peripheral nerve blocks, continuous peripheral nerve catheters, neuraxial procedures, and multimodal medication therapies. The Regional and Acute Pain Division provides care at the University of Virginia’s Main Hospital’s thirty-three Operating Rooms as well as in the Outpatient Surgical Center’s twelve operating rooms.

Additionally, UVA’s Ivy Mountain Musculoskeletal Center has four operating rooms and one procedure room. Our busy clinical division provides consultation and care for both surgical and medical patients. The Division performs more than 8,000 peripheral nerve blocks and continuous catheters annually, more than 2,500 neuraxial techniques annually, and participates in perioperative consults daily.

Our Acute Pain Service cares for our medical and surgical patients within the roughly 800 bed hospital and provides services to patients every day of the year. The Division works closely with all surgical and medical services, providing a high volume of procedures for the departments of Orthopedics, Plastics, Vascular and General Surgery. We provide a multidisciplinary approach to optimize patient care and patient outcomes.

Our Division has an enduring commitment to teaching and prides itself on educating fellows, residents, and medical students. There are currently two accredited Regional and Acute Pain Medicine (RAAPM) fellows and two non-accredited fellowship positions. In addition to learning regional and acute pain, we emphasize modern Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) education throughout the hospital.

A Message from the Division Chief

University of Virginia Ashley M. Shilling, MD, Regional Anesthesia Division Chief

Ashley M. Shilling, Regional Anesthesia Division Chief

Having trained in the days of nerve stimulation and transarterial axillary blocks, I am constantly enthralled by the progress and changes within the specialty of Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine (RAAPM). We now carry ultrasounds that fit easily into our pockets. We watch our patients walk with minimal to no pain or motor block on the same day as their total knee replacements. We can replace joints in their entirety and send patients home only hours after surgery. With a complete evolution of our specialty, we continue to discover additional indications and benefits of regional procedures and pain management techniques almost daily.

What I most like about working within UVA’s Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Division are the connections we are able to create within our division and department, with our surgical and medical colleagues, and most critically, with our patients. We focus on the optimization of pain and the improvement in patient outcomes to provide care for every type of patient.

We may provide care for a collegiate athlete with a torn ACL, and the same day, place a spinal in an elderly patient suffering a pathologic fracture. Our division is unique in frequently caring intraoperatively for awake patients who provide us with feedback, gratitude, and conversation. We currently have 11 faculty with diverse training and experiences. Our faculty hold positions within ASA, ASRA and SAMBA, have won teaching awards, and teach international courses.

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Acute Pain Service (APS)

The Acute Pain Service (APS) care team is here to help navigate patients through their hospitalization more comfortably. Our experienced team is able to add specialized medications or nerve blocks to improve patient pain control. We can also aid the surgical or medical team in utilizing existing pain medications more effectively.

Our physicians are anesthesiologists and/or full-time pain physicians. All have completed additional fellowship training in regional anesthesia and/or pain medicine and are board certified in their fields. Our physicians teach regional anesthesia and pain medicine to residents, fellows, and students who learn to actively manage the service. Many of our doctors are actively involved in pain-related research projects and national societies. Our nurse practitioner and nurse coordinator have many years of experience specific to acute pain management and are empathetic to patient concerns.

Our Division