“Every single day, every patient is different. You never know what you’re going to see, and you have to be able to think and react quickly to any given situation. That’s what I love about anesthesia,” says Elena Averbakh, MD, a University of Minnesota Physicians anesthesiologist.
But Averbakh wasn’t always sure that anesthesia was the path for her.
“While in medical school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. It wasn’t until I went through all of my rotations that I really fell in love with anesthesia,” she says.
Now, Averbakh is a provider at University of Minnesota Health’s Comprehensive Pain Clinic, along with an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Anesthesiology.
When treating patients, safety is always her number one priority, but comfort comes in a close second.
“With every patient that I have, I treat them like I would my own family. I want to make sure that they are safe, that they are comfortable, and that, when they go into surgery, which is probably one of the scariest things that someone can experience, that they are well taken care of both during and after surgery,” says Averbakh.
That being said, she’ll be the first one to tell you that it isn’t always easy to treat pain.
“Everyone reacts differently to pain and pain stimuli,” says Averbakh. “I think it’s very complex, and we have to be aware that this can have a profound impact on people’s daily lives.”
Contact Information
University of Minnesota Comprehensive Pain Clinic
909 Fulton St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Appointments: 612‑301‑1425