One Needle is Better Than Two: The Philosophy Surrounding Use of Local Anesthesia in Northern India.

The author, an internal medicine resident in the United States, participated in an international elective through her postgraduate training program in a rural hospital in northern India. While performing a thoracentesis, she notes that local anesthesia has not been administered, which is seemingly the standard of care at this hospital. Several questionnaire studies about pain services and pain management in India are reviewed, and they reveal insights and severe limitations to effective management of hospitalized patients' pain.