"Anesthesia or anaesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes."
Skills required in treating patients before, during and after anesthesia, including airway management, fluid management and monitoring.
Anatomy and Physiology: Understanding the structure and function of the human body is necessary to comprehend the effects of anesthesia and surgery on different organ systems.
Pharmacology: Anesthesia involves the use of medications, and a basic understanding of drug mechanisms, interactions, and adverse effects is necessary for safe and effective patient care.
Medical Terminology: Understanding medical jargon is necessary to effectively communicate with colleagues and patients and to read medical records.
Patient Assessment: Assessing patients before surgery involves obtaining a detailed medical history, performing a physical exam, and ordering appropriate tests.
Airway Management: Proper airway management is crucial to maintain the patient's breathing during anesthesia and to ensure adequate delivery of oxygen to the tissues.
Intraoperative Monitoring: During surgery, vital signs, including heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen saturation, need to be monitored continuously to detect any changes.
Pain Management: Anesthesiologists are often responsible for managing pain during and after surgery using medications and other techniques.
Emergency Management: Anesthesia emergencies can occur, and anesthesiologists must be prepared to recognize and manage them promptly.
Regional Anesthesia: This technique involves numbing a specific region of the body, and it can be an alternative to general anesthesia for certain surgeries.
Sedation: Sometimes, patients need to be sedated for procedures such as endoscopies or minor surgeries, and anesthesiologists may be responsible for administering the sedation and monitoring patients' vital signs.
Perioperative Patient Care: Anesthesiologists are part of the perioperative team and collaborate with other healthcare providers to ensure comprehensive patient care.
Infection Control: Infection control measures are critical because surgical patients are at a higher risk of infection, and anesthesiologists must ensure that their practice meets the highest standards of infection prevention.
Communication Skills: Clear communication with patients, colleagues, and other healthcare staff is essential for providing safe and effective anesthesia care.
Professionalism and Ethics: Anesthesiologists must adhere to professional and ethical standards and conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the integrity of the practice of medicine.
Cultural Competence: Anesthesiologists should be aware of and sensitive to cultural differences that may impact patient care and should strive to provide care that is respectful and inclusive of diverse populations.
General Anesthesia: Complete unconsciousness and lack of sensation through medication.
Regional Anesthesia: Numbing an area of the body with an injection of a local anesthetic.
Local Anesthesia: Numbing a specific area with an injection of a local anesthetic.
Spinal Anesthesia: Injection of a local anesthetic into the spinal canal to numb the lower half of the body.
Epidural Anesthesia: Injection of a local anesthetic into the epidural space of the spine to numb the lower half of the body.
Conscious Sedation: Medications to calm patients for procedures while still conscious and able to follow commands.
Pediatric Anesthesia: Anesthesia administered to children.
Obstetric Anesthesia: Anesthesia administered during childbirth.
Chronic Pain Management: Managing chronic pain through the use of various types of anesthesia.
Critical Care Anesthesia: Administering anesthesia to critically ill patients.
Cardiovascular Anesthesia: Administering anesthesia during heart surgery.
Neuroanesthesia: Administering anesthesia during brain or nervous system surgery.
Geriatric Anesthesia: Administering anesthesia to elderly patients.
"It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), amnesia (loss of memory), and unconsciousness."
"Anesthesia enables the painless performance of procedures that would otherwise require physical restraint in a non-anesthetized individual or would otherwise be technically unfeasible."
"General anesthesia suppresses central nervous system activity and results in unconsciousness and total lack of sensation, using either injected or inhaled drugs. Sedation suppresses the central nervous system to a lesser degree, inhibiting both anxiety and creation of long-term memories without resulting in unconsciousness."
"Local anesthesia is simple infiltration by the clinician directly onto the region of interest (e.g., numbing a tooth for dental work)."
"Peripheral nerve blocks use drugs targeted at peripheral nerves to anesthetize an isolated part of the body, such as an entire limb."
"Neuraxial blockade, mainly epidural and spinal anesthesia, can be performed in the region of the central nervous system itself, suppressing all incoming sensation from nerves supplying the area of the block."
"In preparing for a medical or veterinary procedure, the clinician chooses one or more drugs to achieve the types and degree of anesthesia characteristics appropriate for the type of procedure and the particular patient."
"The types of drugs used include general anesthetics, local anesthetics, hypnotics, dissociatives, sedatives, adjuncts, neuromuscular-blocking drugs, narcotics, and analgesics."
"The risks of complications during or after anesthesia are often difficult to separate from those of the procedure for which anesthesia is being given, but in the main they are related to three factors: the health of the individual, the complexity and stress of the procedure itself, and the anaesthetic technique."
"Major perioperative risks can include death, heart attack, and pulmonary embolism."
"Minor risks can include postoperative nausea and vomiting and hospital readmission."
"Some conditions, like local anesthetic toxicity, airway trauma, or malignant hyperthermia, can be more directly attributed to specific anesthetic drugs and techniques."
"Anesthesia or anaesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes."
"Sedation suppresses the central nervous system to a lesser degree, inhibiting both anxiety and creation of long-term memories without resulting in unconsciousness."
"Regional anesthesia blocks transmission of nerve impulses from a specific part of the body, either used alone or in combination with general anesthesia or sedation."
"Local anesthesia is simple infiltration by the clinician directly onto the region of interest, e.g., numbing a tooth for dental work."
"Anesthesia may include amnesia, which is the loss of memory."
"The health of the individual, the complexity and stress of the procedure itself, and the anaesthetic technique influence the choice of anesthesia."
"The risks of complications during or after anesthesia are often difficult to separate from those of the procedure for which anesthesia is being given, but in the main they are related to the anaesthetic technique."