Dr. Kevin Armstrong

armstrongAssociate Professor
Lead, Mentorship

Biography

Dr. Kevin Armstrong completed medical school at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His anesthesia residency was completed at Western University, as was a fellowship in regional and obstetrical anesthesia. Since joining the department he was involved in a number of roles, including membership on the Post-Graduate Education Committee (2001-2007), Academic Affair Committee (2007-2014), Department Council (2009-present) and Faculty Mentorship Lead (2020-present).

He was the City-Wide Co-Director of the Regional Anesthesia & Acute Pain Service program from 2008 until 2020. In addition, as the Depatmental Lead for Faculty Mentorship, he is a member of the Schulich Faculty Mentorship Oversite Committee.

As part of the Regional Anesthesia & Acute Pain Service leadership group, he has made the following contributions:

  • Implementation of electronic charting for both the Acute Pain Service and Regional Anesthesia;
  • Creation of electronic order sets for these services;
  • Maintenance of the Regional Anesthesia Block at St. Joseph's Health Care of London;
  • Establishment and Maintenance of a Regional Anesthesia Block room at the University Hospital;
  • Establishment and Maintenance of a Regional Anesthesia Block room at Victoria Hospital;
  • Establishment and Maintenance of a Regional Anesthesia Block room at the Victoria Hospital Surgical Centre 
  • Introduction of lidocaine infusions and ketamine in Post-operative Pain Management;
  • Formalization of a mentorship program for the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine.

Dr. Armstrong's current areas of research and clinical implementation include

  • Use of ultrasound in obstetrical anesthesia and analgesia;
  • Implementation of perioperative analgesia care plans of lower limb joint surgery;
  • Development of the electronic anatomical learning tools for regional anesthesia;
  • Effectiveness of ultrasound-guided regional anesthesia techniques for upper and lower limb surgery.
  • Quality improvement in Obstetrical and Regional Anesthesia

Honours and Awards

Schulich Awards of Excellence - Faculty Mentorship Award 2019

Clinical Teacher-of-the-Year Awards:

  • Anesthesia residency program
    • Nominates (1999-2000), (2001,2002)
    • Received (1997-98), (2000-2001)
  • Undergraduate Medical Education
    • Received (2003-2004)

Publications

Querney J, Cubillos J, Ding Y, Cherry R, Armstrong K .Patient barrier acceptance during airway management among anesthesiologists: a simulation pilot study.

Korean J Anesthesiol. 2021 Jun;74(3):254-261. doi: 10.4097/kja.20464. Epub 2020 Dec 7

Cubillos J, Querney J, Rankin A, Moore J, Armstrong K.A multipurpose portable negative air flow isolation chamber for aerosol-generating procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Br J Anaesth. 2020 Jul;125(1):e179-e181. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2020.04.059. Epub 2020 Apr 27

Brown B, Khemani E, Lin C, Armstrong K. Improving patient flow in a regional anaesthesia block room. BMJ Open Qual. 2019 Apr 8;8(2):e000346. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2018-000346. eCollection 2019.

Tawfic Q, Kumar K, Pirani Z, Armstrong K. Prevention of chronic post-surgical pain: the importance of early identification of risk factors. J Anesth. 2017 Jun; 31(3):424-431.

Turkstra T, Marmai K, Armstrong KP, Kumar K, Singh SI. Preprocedural ultrasound assessment does not improve trainee performance of spinal anesthesia for obstetrical patients: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Anesthesia. 2017 Feb; 37: 21-24.

Sebbag I, Qasem F, Armstrong K, Jones PM, Singh S. Waveform analysis for lumbar epidural needle placement in labour. Anaesthesia. 2016 Aug;71(8):984-5. 

Brookes J, Sondekoppam R, Armstrong K, Uppal V, Dhir S, Terlecki M, Ganapathy S. Comparative evaluation of the visibility and block characteristics of a stimulating needle and catheter vs an echogenic needle and catheter for sciatic nerve block with a low-frequency ultrasound probe. Br J Anaesth 2015. 115(6):912-919.

Armstrong K. A primer on local anesthetics for plastic surgery. Clin Plast Surg. 2013 Oct;40(4):515-28.

Adhikary SD, Armstrong K, Chin KJ. Perineural entrapment of an interscalene stimulating catheter. Anaesth Intensive Care. 2012 May;40(3):527-30.