Non-OR Anesthesia » Department of Anesthesiology » College of Medicine

Non-Operating Room Anesthesia (NORA) is the classification for the spectrum of anesthesia cases that occurs outside the traditional operating room suite.

NORA represents an ever-growing percentage of surgical and procedural volume, which makes an understanding of its current and future characteristics and trends advisable for all anesthesiologists.

NORA cases often happen in a location that is physically distant from the majority of a medical facility’s surgical cases. A major implication is that available backup assistance of anesthesia staff, other essential support personnel, specialized rescue equipment, and drugs may be separated from these cases by significant travel time. For example, our outpatient ECT Center at Vista is a ten mile drive from the hospital campus, and North Tower IR suites are two floors away from the Main OR and anesthesia workroom. At other times NORA can be located in a separate area that remains closely integrated with the main OR via doors and/or hallways (like our South Tower GI Endoscopy and IR rooms).

Surgeries & Procedures

View looking out of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine

GI Endoscopy
ECT
MRI
Interventional Radiology
Interventional Cardiology
Office-based Plastic Surgery
Office-based Dental Surgery

Education

By graduation, our anesthesiology residents will have sufficient experience with each of these services to have a working knowledge of the requirements for independently delivering safe, efficient, quality anesthesia for the patient population presenting for NORA. (We currently do not staff anesthesia for private offices, yet there are ample resident opportunities to provide anesthesia for plastic surgery and dental surgery cases.)

NORA patients run the gamut of ASA 1- ASA 4, whether they arrive as outpatients or inpatients. Their preoperative preparation can range from none to poor to excellent.

The anesthesiology resident must learn to locate and synthesize pertinent notes, consultations, and laboratory data, and then apply skill, knowledge, communication, and professionalism to navigate NORA scenarios in keeping with the tenets of the core competencies for anesthesiology residency.

Skill, familiarity, and organizational expertise in the NORA realm are key assets worth acquiring for individual success in both private practice and academic anesthesia settings. NORA case numbers and procedural complexity are destined to continue their rapid growth.

Faculty

MD-ANESTHESIOLOGY-GENERAL

Jeffrey D White MD

Associate Professor Of Anesthesiology; Medical Director, Non-OR Anesthesia; Associate Medical Director, Adult GI Endoscopy

jdfwhite@ufl.edu

MD-ANESTHESIOLOGY-GENERAL

Gregory Wells MD

Assistant Professor Of Anesthesiology; Associate Chief, Non-OR Anesthesia; Anesthesia Director, UF Health Endoscopy Center

gwells@anest.ufl.edu

MD-ANESTHESIOLOGY-GENERAL

Matthew M Andoniadis MD

Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology; Chief, Division of Multispecialty Anesthesiology, Assistant Medical Director, Non-OR Anesthesia; Compliance Officer

mandoniadis@anest.ufl.edu