The Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine is a National Standardized Training Base for Anesthesiology Residents, a Nationally Registered Clinical Trial Site for Drugs, one of the first National Pilot Hospitals for Comprehensive Pain Management, a standing council member of the Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology, the Zhejiang Provincial Office of the Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Committee of the Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology, a Training Base for Visualized Anesthesia Ultrasound, a training base for pain-free and comfort-oriented diagnosis and treatment, the Central Zhejiang Aortic Dissection Patient Treatment Center, a Zhejiang University University-Level “Youth Civilization Unit,” a Class I Key Medical Discipline in Jinhua City, the Yiwu Critical Obstetric Patient Treatment Center, and the Yiwu Multiple Trauma Treatment Center. It is a clinically strong department integrating medical care, teaching, and research, primarily responsible for clinical anesthesia, pain-free medical procedures, pain management, post-anesthesia critical care monitoring and treatment, and in-hospital emergency care. It serves as a vital hub for the hospital’s operations.
Our department is equipped with 27 operating rooms (including 5 outpatient operating rooms and 2 obstetric operating rooms), 2 anesthesia preparation rooms, 2 anesthesia recovery rooms, 5 rooms for routine pain-free gastrointestinal endoscopy, 1 room for pain-free bronchoscopy, and 2 DSA operating rooms. It is equipped with advanced anesthesia machines, multifunctional color Doppler ultrasound machines, blood recovery systems, Flortrac hemodynamic monitors, transesophageal echocardiography systems, high-flow infusion pumps, and various monitoring and resuscitation devices. Furthermore, our department maintains a comprehensive inventory of medications to meet the needs of anesthesia for all types of surgeries.
The department is guided by the vision of becoming a renowned anesthesiology department affiliated with a university medical school, dedicated to building a “perioperative medical center centered on patient safety, characterized by a humanistic approach, and integrating medical care, education, and research.” All members have worked or studied at other Zhejiang University-affiliated hospitals, possessing strong technical capabilities and forming an excellent team with outstanding professional qualifications. Under the leadership of Department Head Xu Jianhong (Executive Council Member of the Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology; Member of the Cardiothoracic Subcommittee of the Anesthesiology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association; Vice Chair of the Cardiovascular Anesthesia and Comfort Care Subcommittees of the Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology; Member of the Anesthesiology Branch of the Zhejiang Medical Association; Standing Committee Member of the Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Branch of the Zhejiang Medical Doctors Association, Expert in the Zhejiang Medical Association’s Medical Appraisal Expert Database, Standing Committee Member of the Anesthesiology Committee of the Zhejiang Society of Neuroscience, and Standing Committee Member of the Fifth Pain Medicine Committee of the Zhejiang Society of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine), the department’s clinical capabilities—including critical and complex clinical anesthesia, clinical anesthesia for cardiac and great vessel surgeries, and minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic techniques for patients with complex and intractable pain—are at the forefront of the region. It is particularly noteworthy that the department’s clinical services cover the entire age spectrum, ranging from anesthesia for neonatal diaphragmatic hernias to orthopedic surgeries for patients over 100 years old.
The department’s acute and chronic pain management services include comprehensive analgesic treatment for postoperative acute pain, as well as the treatment of various chronic pain conditions at the pain clinic, such as neck, shoulder, lower back, and leg pain; postherpetic neuralgia; herniated discs; and cancer-related pain. Our pain clinic is capable of independently performing procedures including intrathecal pump implantation, CT-guided celiac plexus neurolysis, selective spinal nerve root block, radiofrequency discectomy, radiofrequency ablation of the posterior branch of the spinal nerve, percutaneous lumbar discectomy, silver needle therapy for myofascial pain, ultrasound-guided release of stenosing tenosynovitis, and radiofrequency modulation of the greater occipital nerve. Our department is a regional leader in the diagnosis and treatment of these common pain conditions and is highly regarded by patients.
As a National Standardized Training Base for Anesthesiology Residents, the department has achieved outstanding teaching results, with its residents consistently ranking among the top in first-time pass rates for the Medical Practitioner Qualification Examination in recent years. The department also excels in research, with primary research directions including: clinical anesthesia for cardiac and great vessel surgery, perioperative organ protection, clinical anesthesia for critically ill and complex patients, mechanisms of acute and chronic pain, research on anesthesia-related pharmacology and toxicology, and nanomaterials.
Furthermore, the department places special emphasis on quality control and improvement in clinical practice. In accordance with national and Zhejiang Province requirements for anesthesia quality control, and leveraging the hospital’s anesthesia information recording and management platform, the department conducts comprehensive and meticulous oversight of daily clinical operations to promote continuous improvement and enhancement of clinical quality.
