The concept may be a bit strange, which is why it's probably still experimental. Researchers from UFL's College of Medicine conducted a study that showed that surgical robots could be used to enable anesthesiologists to perform robot-assisted procedures from remote locations. Using the daVinci robot, experiments using an ultrasound phantom  simulated what an anesthesiologist would see. Note: human patients were not used as subjects in the study. Once the anesthesiologist placed the ultrasound probe, a catheter placement procedure was performed. Although the study showed that teleanesthesia is possible with existing equipment, Steven Shafer of Columbia University says that there aren't enough skilled regional anesthesiologists to meet the demand. The technology is also still too young, but Shafer says that if future studies demonstrate that the technology is practical, then one highly trained anesthesiologist could perform procedures around the world in one day. However, a local anesthesiologist would also need to observe the patient for complications or to standby if the remote procedure fails.