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Thursday 18 April 2013

Medical Perspective: Anaesthesia


Anaesthesia is the medical specialty which is responsible for managing the pain of patients as well making sure that they stay sedated during operations. Usually this specialty forms the largest department in hospitals over the UK and around two thirds of all patients admitted to hospital come into contact with a doctor in this specialty.




As would be imagined, for half of their working week anaesthetists can be found in the operating theatre were they monitor the patient to ensure that they are sedated enough for the surgery to take place but also in a stable condition which would allow them to wake up from the surgery without any complications.But anaesthetists can also be found working in a large range if other medical departments such as the intensive care unit, obstetric units, emergency departments, dentistry, radiology ad as part of their hospitals cardiac arrest teams.

In order to be a doctor in this field you must be reliable, punctual, be able to communicate well with other members of the theatre team as well as with the patients and their families. You must also have great attention to detail. All of these qualities are similar to those which are needed to be an emergency or acute medic.
Typically anaesthetists have an early day starting at around 8am and then finishing whenever their last operation is over. Unlike with A&E the on-call requirement is usually around only one night a week and one weekend a month.

This is a really competitive speciality to get into as it not only allows for flexible working hours but it also encourages research and teaching at consultant-level .

xo The Girl

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