The anaesthetist plays a huge role in the patient’s overall surgery experience. An anaesthetist is a doctor that provides patients with medication to ensure that they do not feel any pain when undergoing the surgery. A surgical procedure would not be complete without the anesthetist playing his or her role. They play a much wider role instead of just putting patients to sleep to undergo surgery as people have been misled to believe.
Other medical procedures are also done by anaesthetists such as dealing with emergency situations, carrying out assessments in the critical care units and providing patients with advice on dealing with pain management.
What is Anaesthesiology?
Anaesthesiology is the practice of medicine which dedicated solely to the relief of pain experienced by patients and complete care of surgical patients throughout the surgery and not just during the surgery. However, they provide complete support to the surgeon during the surgery. If you are looking for the best anaesthetist to help you out with the surgery, then you should consider the anaesthetic group as they are truly the best in Australia.
Anaesthetists are involved in majority of the surgical procedures carried out under anaesthetic every year in Australia and throughout the world. Without the anaesthetist, the entire surgical procedure would be difficult for the surgeon to conduct.
Direct care of the patients along with supervision of the anaesthesia assistants is done by the anesthetist.
So, what do Anaesthetists Do Exactly?
The anaesthetist not only provides pain relief to patients during, before or after the surgery, but they even fulfill various other important roles.
Pain Relief in Surgery
The patient will meet with the anaesthetist before the surgery for an evaluation. During the meeting, the anaesthetist will make out a plan for the surgical operation and would take into account all of the needs of the patient to ensure that they feel comfortable with the surgery.
During the day of the surgery, the anaesthetist would supervise the administration for the medication of the patient to ensure that they do not experience any pain during the surgery. Now, the anaesthetists do not physically provide most of the anaesthetics but they rather supervise the anaesthesia assistant or the certified nurse in providing the anaesthetics.
The following are the type of pain relief, which are offered during the surgery.
- General Anaesthesia: It will help put the patient to sleep during the operation period.
- Sedation: They are intravenous drugs which make the patient feel clam and unaware of the surgical procedure.
- Regional Anaesthesia: The local anaesthetic would be injected near the nerves of the patient to numb the region of the body which would be operated. These include epidural, spinal or blocks injections.
During the surgical procedure, the surgeon will carry out the surgical work, whereas, on the other hand the anaesthetists would continue the work and be responsible for the patient’s medical management. The patient’s bodily functions would be monitored to assess which way would be best for the treatment of the vital organs and ensure that there is a balance of medication suited for the needs of the patient. Here are some of the bodily functions that would be monitored by the anaesthetist.
- Fluid Balance
- Body Temperature
- Blood Pressure
- Breathing
- Heart rate and Rhythm
The anaesthetist controls all of the vital measures and the pain level of the patient along with their unconsciousness during and after the operation.
After the Surgery
The anaesthetist would continue to be responsible for the overall care of the patient after the procedure. The affects of the anaesthesia would be reversed by the anaesthetists and they would continuously evaluate the patient and ensure that the patient is comfortable as he or she recovers.
Furthermore, during the surgery, the anaesthetist would direct other workers such as the nurses.
Critical Emergency Care
The anaesthetist plays a huge role in critical treatment and care as well as trauma. The patients would be assessed to make diagnosis, provided with support for circulation and breathing, and will help ensure that the infection has been prevented.
Moreover, the anesthetists are also qualified to play their part in contributing to emergency medicine, providing cardiac and airway resuscitation and advanced life support along with pain control. The patients are stabilized by them and prepared for the surgery.
Some of the anaesthetists would seek additional qualifications and trainings for specialization in critical care and pain medicine. The anaesthetist also posses technical expertise and medical knowledge for dealing with emergency and trauma situations along with the role of consultants to ensure that the patient is taken care of throughout the surgery.
Post Anaesthesia Care Unit
When the patients get transferred to the post-anaesthesia care unit after the surgery, the anaesthetist would continue to watch over the patient. Evidence of recovery would be taken through the monitoring of breathing, level of consciousness, circulation, oxygen saturation and breathing. All of these would be monitored continuously.
The anaesthetist would also decide when the patient has sufficiently recovered to be taken back home following the surgery or has stabilized enough to be moved to another room in the hospital.
Obstetric Anaesthesia
Anaesthetists are known for providing expectant mothers with pain relief during their delivery. Now, there are many mothers who still choose to give birth through natural childbirth techniques, but there is still a demand for epidural anaesthesia for delivery. During the delivery, the anaesthetist would manage to care for both of the patients and provide efficient and effective pain relief to the mother while also maintaining safety for the baby.
Why Anaesthetists are Vital for Conducting Successful Surgeries?
The surgeon cannot manage all of the work on his own and would most definitely need anaesthetists to help with preoperative evaluation, intra-operative care, critical care, and the recovery of the patient. There is no doubt that successful surgeries require anaesthetists. Surgeons know about the importance of anaesthetists. If you are a surgeon then you should consider hiring an anaesthetist.