Anesthesia 110

I am in the second week of my anesthesia rotation at the Veterans Administration. I love it. It's interesting, fun, but busy. Anesthesia is the care of the perioperative patient. We assess patients prior to their surgery, noting relevant medical conditions, selecting our anesthetic agents, and deciding on the monitoring necessary. Depending on the surgery, we may do local, regional (spinal or epidural), or general anesthesia, from sedation to knocking someone out completely. Anesthesiologists maintain the airway and are concerned primarily with the cardiovascular system during the stress of the surgery.

On this rotation, our primary objectives are to learn the role of the anesthesiologist, the prepartion of a patient for a surgery, and basics of airway management, sedation, and pain control. We are encouraged to do as much hands-on stuff as we can, especially putting in IVs and intubating (putting a tube in the trachea or windpipe so that a ventilator can help someone breathe). We learn a bit about making an anesthetic plan, interpreting data, and anticipating problems. It's just a two week rotation, but there's a good mix of didactics and clinical operating room experience; as a result, I'm having little time to blog.