The Anesthesia Consultant

APRIL 25, 2021

On March 28, 2021 the anesthesia world in the United States was rocked by the headline: “ Wisconsin Hospital Replaces All Anesthesiologists With CRNAs. “ The medical center previously had an anesthesia staff that included both MDs and CRNAs (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists). (He In a word, no. No, they are not.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Let’s look at a case study which highlights a specific risk of general anesthesia at a freestanding surgery center or a surgeon’s office operating room, when the anesthesiologist departs soon after the case is finished. The assessment is ASA II, and the plan is general endotracheal anesthesia. The patient consents.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

Very few patients die in the operating room, but significant numbers die in the weeks that follow. At times, physician anesthesiologists employ certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs) to assist them in what is called the anesthesia care team (ACT) model. Are CRNAs and anesthesiologists equals?

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The Anesthesia Consultant

FEBRUARY 16, 2021

Anesthesia is not the career for you if you like to sleep late—surgery always begins at 0730 hours). Empty Operating Room 0655 hours—You don a bouffant hat and a facemask, and enter your operating room. Your hospital contains multiple operating rooms, and today you are in room #10.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

MARCH 24, 2022

The only way to end the sedative effects of propofol is for an anesthesia professional to support the airway, breathing, and circulation of the patient until the drug effects of propofol wear off in time. I’ve never administered a dose of flumazenil in my entire career, nor have most of my anesthesia colleagues.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Every anesthesia provider must learn to free-solo anesthesia early in his or her career. A typical hospital will have dozens of other anesthesia providers working in the same building. Commercial aviation is sometimes compared to anesthesia practice. In anesthesia there is no guaranteed second anesthesiologist.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

FEBRUARY 11, 2018

He writes, “Our specialty, anesthesia, has suffered an identity crisis for decades. In the late 1970’s I was a third-year medical student at a prominent Midwestern medical school, where an unspoken rank system existed in the operating room. Read my column on bullying in the operating room. Hold your heads high.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

JUNE 12, 2023

I entered three anesthesia consultations into CHATGPT, one preoperative, one intraoperative, and one postoperative. INTRAOPERATIVE DECISION A 60-year-old man with a history of hypertension is having a knee arthroscopy surgery under general anesthesia. This could indicate a cardiac event or a complication related to the anesthesia.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

JULY 12, 2017

This is what the anesthesia experience is like for most patients: You show up for surgery, and some anesthesia professional you’ve never met or talked to appears 10 minutes before you are to be wheeled into the operating room. The anesthesia professional might be an MD, a CRNA, or both a MD and a CRNA might be involved.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

OCTOBER 8, 2019

The most invasive type of airway tube used in anesthesia is called an endotracheal tube, or ET tube. At the onset of general anesthesia anesthesiologists place an ET tube through the mouth, past the larynx (voice box), and into the trachea (windpipe). If the patient has an ET tube, it is usually removed.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

JANUARY 29, 2018

Anesthesiologists still work in hospital operating rooms, but their expertise is also needed in other places, including invasive radiology, gastrointestinal endoscopy, electrophysiology and more. Careers in anesthesia are intellectually stimulating, emotionally gratifying, and have high median salaries and ultra-low unemployment.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

AUGUST 28, 2016

Let me begin by offering two anecdotes: I was an invited visiting anesthesia professor at a major university this year, and following one of my lectures an anesthesiology resident approached me for a discussion. The demand for anesthesia services will grow. How much money does an anesthesiologist earn? It depends.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

AUGUST 16, 2018

If something dire goes wrong during anesthesia and surgery and the flow of oxygen to the brain is cut off, an anesthesia practitioner has about five minutes to diagnose the cause of the problem and treat it. The good news is that catastrophic events causing sudden drops in oxygen levels are very rare during anesthesia.

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The Anesthesia Consultant

NOVEMBER 12, 2015

I’d already secured my medical staff privileges and my appointment to the anesthesia service. I entered the hallway of the operating room complex. Hibbing General had only six operating rooms, compared to the 40 rooms at Stanford. The operating room was small, a compact 30 feet by 30 feet.

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