Anesthesiologists are responsible for monitoring a patient throughout surgery
Anesthesiology is a growing field of medicine. Prior to the mid 1800s surgery was performed with no effective pain management techniques. As surgery and science struggled to find new methods to help patient cope with pain, the relevance of anesthesiology grew and anesthesiologists now contribute to many different aspects of medicine.
Ancient Anesthesia
In ancient times when a surgery needed to be performed there was no clinically proven drug to anesthetize a patient. The most primitive form of controlling pain during surgery was to give the patient something to bite on, and have several other people hold him down. Alcohol was one of the first chemical anesthetics. A patient would be made to consume alcoholic beverages until he became intoxicated enough to pass out. Later, opium, or cloth soaked in chemicals that produced noxious fumes were used to render a patient unconscious. Even with these methods, surgeons performing complex and time consuming procedures would have several assistants on hand to restrain a patient should the anesthetic wear off.
Chemical Anesthesia
In the mid 1800s more effective forms of anesthetics were discovered. Ether was the leading anesthetic of choice for many physicians. The chemical known as chloroform also became recognized as an effective means to render a patient unconscious. The problem with chloroform or ether was that the fumes a patient had to inhale were toxic and breathing too much could prove fatal. Nitrous oxide, known today as 'laughing gas', was used by dentists to induce a senseless or giddy emotional state which dulled the patient's sensitivity to pain. Following World War II the science of anesthesiology bloomed as doctors sought to perfect safer and more effective ways the anesthetize patients during painful procedures.
Evolution of Anesthesiology
By the end of the nineteenth century most medical experts agreed that ether was safer than chloroform. Thus ether became the primary surgical anesthetic and was administered almost exclusively. The main method of administering ether was to hold a soaked rag containing the chemical over the patient's nose and mouth, thus forcing them to inhale the fumes until they became unconscious. Ether was so easy to administer that the task was typically carried out by nurses.
Eventually the understanding of different health conditions and treatments evolved and new surgical procedures that had never before been attempted could be performed using anesthetic. As the demand for health care professionals who were well versed in the practice of anesthetizing patients grew, organizations devoted to understanding and improving anesthetic medicine were formed.
New Methods
As the field of anesthesiology evolved new substances replaced ether and anesthetics are now safer and more effective than they were previously. Safer gases and drugs can be used by trained anesthesiologists to render a patient unconscious without the potentially harmful side effects of ether such as nausea of headaches. Some modern anesthetics include the narcotic thiopentone sodium. Thiopentone sodium is an intravenous drug that can render a patient unconscious within 30 seconds. Other contemporary anesthetics include gases such as halothane, enflurane, methoxyflurane and cyclopropane. Modern anesthetics exit the patient's blood stream quickly and allow recipients of minor surgical procedures to be discharged the same day the procedure is performed. Improved anesthetic administering techniques allow anesthesiologists to control the dosage of an anesthetic and maintain safer levels of chemicals entering the patient's body.
Modern Anesthesiologists
In today's medical environment an anesthesiologist does more than administer pain relief during surgery. Anesthesiologists work with patients after surgery to help monitor and control post surgical pain management. This may include administering pain relief via intravenous units or pain medication. They may also assist with controlling pain during physical therapy or recovery programs. Anesthesiologists may offer counseling to patients both before and after surgery to explain the procedures and to determine if the patient is likely to experience any adverse reactions to the anesthesia. Some anesthesiologists specialize in end-of-life care, and controlling pain for terminally ill patients.
