History of Anesthesia and Introduction to the Specialty

Abstract

Two party drugs competed for primacy as the first inhaled anesthetic agent. Nitrous oxide came first, produced adequate analgesia for dental extractions, but was not potent enough to provide anesthesia for surgery. Ether produced general anesthesia but was flammable at a time when either natural illumination or open flames provided light in operating areas. Very soon after ether came chloroform, which was non-flammable and easier to use. But because chloroform had significant side effects, ether emerged as the predominant agent for the next 100 years. Anesthesia is universally accepted as one of the top 10 advances in medicine, but no one received a Nobel Prize for its discovery.

Early anesthesia administration was an art. Now the practice anesthesiology is scientifically based. Its breadth has expanded to include sedation for procedures, pain management, obstetric analgesia, perioperative medicine, resuscitation and intensive care. Part of the joy of an anesthesia rotation is acquiring practical clinical skills that will serve you well regardless of your future practice. They include airway assessment, mask ventilation, laryngoscopy and endotracheal intubation, ventilator management, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intravenous cannulation, spinal needle insertion, and nerve blocks.