ISA Webinar: Complex Adaptive Systems (Or, Anesthesia in the Real World)
Guest Speaker: Keith J Ruskin, MD
Professor of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the risks of working in a rapidly-changing, unpredictable environment.
- Develop strategies to increase resilience in preoperative care, including communication, planning for rare events, and critical event management
Biography:
Keith J Ruskin, MD is a Professor of Anesthesiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His clinical practice focuses on neurosurgical anesthesia. His major academic interests include neurosurgical anesthesia, safety and human performance, and aerospace medicine. Keith has worked as part of a team to develop guidelines for screening morbidly obese pilots for obstructive sleep apnea and for the management of in-flight cardiac arrest. He has developed a fatigue risk management program for physicians who must work overnight shifts and participated in a NASA workshop on induced torpor for long duration spaceflight. Keith is also interested in the terrestrial applications for this work, writing articles on the role of automation in clinical care and how personal protective equipment affects human performance. His funded research involves the role of alarms, alerts, and warnings in Air Traffic Control, and he most recently helped to develop a new arrival procedure that will improve the safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System.
Keith has published original research articles, review articles, and textbooks on a variety of topics, including willingness to fly during the COVID-19 pandemic, management of critical events in the operating room, and other topics related to patient safety. He served on the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Patient Safety Editorial Board and Committee on Patient Safety Education. He is also past Chair of the Aerospace Medical Association’s Aerospace Human Performance Committee. He holds the titles of Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and Fellow of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He is also a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Keith grew up in Miami Beach. He received a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Biotechnology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He then attended medical school at the University of Miami School of Medicine and completed his residency at New York University Medical Center. He spent 20 years on the faculty of Yale University and then ten years at the University of Chicago before being recruited to the University of North Carolina. Keith has had a lifelong interest in aviation and currently holds a Commercial Pilot certificate with Airplane Single-Engine Land and Sea, Multi-Engine Land, and Instrument Airplane ratings. He also holds a Second in Command type rating for the Douglas DC-3. He is currently based at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (KRDU), where he flies a Cessna Skylane.