Program Overview: When William T. G. Morton held the first successful public demonstration of ether anesthesia for alleviating the pain of surgery on 16 October, 1846, history was created in the operating room of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
Anesthesia as a specialty, and anesthesiologists as physicians, has come a long way from the times of ether. Today anesthesiologists are highly trained physicians who provide a whole range of care for patients, not just in the operating theater but in many areas of patient care. The present day anesthesiologist is involved in preoperative optimization, management of high dependency and intensive care units, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, acute and chronic pain management, emergency medicine, disaster management and patient transfers between hospitals. Anesthesia today is very safe, with a mortality rate of less than 1 in 250,000 directly related to anesthesia. The specialty today is deservingly referred to as the lifeline of modern medicine and as the leading specialty in quality improvement in medicine.
To commemorate this important day in medical history, the Department of Anesthesiology, ICU and Perioperative Medicine at HMC and Division of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Heart Hospital would like to invite you to a series of discussions on the specialty of anesthesia, its past, present and future.
Objectives:- Commemorate the 169th anniversary of Ether Day
- Highlight the impact of anesthesia on modern medicine
- Update our knowledge on perioperative care
- Describe the need of neuro critical care as a specialty in intensive care
- Identify the current trends in management of cerebral aneurysm, SAH and stroke
- Describe the morbidity associated with common IV fluid usage, especially in critically ill patients
- Analyze and describe the origins of anesthesia as a specialty and how it has evolved over time
- Interpret the surgeons perspective on complex and complicated surgical procedures in neuro and cardiovascular surgeries
- Describe the procedure of fast tracking in cardiac anesthesia with its benefits
- Recognize the importance of adopting safety culture in anesthesia practice
- Understand the recent trends and EBM in near and cardiac critical care
- Learn about the radiological modalities in SAH and cerebral aneurysm
