Anaesthesia is a relatively young specialty by comparison with its counterparts. William Morton administered the first anaesthetic in 1846 in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Royal College of Anaesthetists was cleaved from the Royal College of Surgeons in 1948. Now anaesthetists form the largest group of hospital-based doctors. Anaesthetists are highly trained physicians whose role is by no means limited to the operating theatre. They oversee the patient journey through the peri-operative period, i.e. preoperative assessment and optimization of the sick surgical patient, ensuring safe intra-operative provision of anaesthesia as well as care of the patient in the early post-operative period. Anaesthetic skills are also requested during management of the critically ill in the Emergency Department, during the care of the parturient mother in providing analgesic, anaesthetic, and intensive care input, and increasingly in the pre-hospital environment. Anaesthetists have an important role in the practice of intensive care where complementary experience in medicine is useful. Other roles of the anaesthetist include provision of acute and chronic pain services. and subspecialty interests include regional, paediatric, cardiothoracic, vascular, and neuroanaesthesia. Anaesthesia is a highly practical specialty, with a strong emphasis on the basic sciences underpinning its practice. Physiology and pharmacology exert their effects with immediacy; therefore, an affinity for these disciplines is desirable. Anaesthetists need to be able to assimilate knowledge of the basic sciences with skills in history and examination, in order to plan for, and respond to, patient needs. In answering these questions, you will be asked to use similar skills.
Tele-Follow-Up of Older Adult Patients from the Geriatric Emergency Department Innovation (GEDI) Program
