Anesthesiology

Anesthesiology

What Is Meant By Anesthesiology?

“The practice of medicine dedicated to the relief of pain and total care of the
surgical patient before, during and after surgery.”
Anesthesiologists are involved in around 90 percent of the more than 40
million surgical procedures that are carried out under anesthetic each year in
the United States.

Who performs anesthesia?
If you’re having a relatively simple procedure like a tooth extraction that requires numbing a small area, the person performing your procedure can administer the local anesthetic. For more complex and invasive procedures, your anesthetic will be administered by a physician anesthesiologist. This medical doctor manages your pain
before, during and after surgery. In addition to your physician anesthesiologist, your anesthesia team can be comprised of physicians in training (fellows or residents), a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), or a certified anesthesiologist assistant (CAA).

What do anesthesiologists do?
An anesthesiologist is a doctor who gives a patient medication so they do not feel pain when they are undergoing surgery.

However, these specialist physicians play a much wider role than just putting
people to sleep for surgery.

What is anesthesia?

Anesthesia is a medical treatment that keeps you from feeling pain during procedures or surgery. The medications used to block pain are called anesthetics. Different types of anesthesia work in different ways. Some anesthetic medications numb certain parts of the body, while other medications numb the brain, to induce a sleep through
more invasive surgical procedures, like those within the head, chest, or abdomen.

What do anesthesiologists do?
The anesthesiologist provides pain relief before, during and after surgery, but
they also fulfill a number of other important roles.

Pain relief in surgery.
Before an operation, a patient will meet with the anesthesiologist for an
evaluation. The anesthesiologist will make a plan for the operation that takes
into account the individual needs of the patient.
The type of pain relief offered during surgery may be:
General anesthesia: The patient “goes to sleep” while the operation lasts.
Sedation: Intravenous drugs calm the patient or make them unaware of the procedure.
Regional anesthesia: Local anesthetic is injected near the nerves to numb the area that will be operated. These may be nerve blocks or spinal or epidural injections.