Vol 3 | Issue 3 | Sep-Dec 2017 | page: 29 | Balavenkata Subramanian
Authors : Balavenkata Subramanian [1].
[1] Department of Anesthesiology, Ganga, Medical Centre & Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.
Address of Correspondence
Dr. Balavenkata Subramanian,
Senior Consultant Anaesthesiologist Ganga, Medical Centre & Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.
313, Mettupalayam Road, Saibaba Koil, Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu 641043, India
E-mail: drbalavenkat@gmail.com
I have read the editorial: Anaesthetist as a Perioperative Physician: a new perspective with great interest. In Ganga hospital, Coimbatore, we practice the concept of Anaesthestist as a Perioperative physician in totality. Since inception, we have no cardiologist or physician and the patient is solely managed by an anaesthetist! Hence, would like to express my views on this aspect..
Anesthesiologists are unique and versatile. They are the medical specialists who have equipped themselves in providing anesthesia across a wide spectrum of ages; starting from a premature newborn child to a centenarian. Hence, they need to know several facets of pediatric and geriatric medicine. They also encounter patients with several deviations from normal physiology either due to congenital abnormalities, acquired abnormalities secondary to comorbid conditions such asdiabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and bronchial asthma and critically ill patients secondary to trauma, infection, and malignancy. Therefore, they master the etiopathogenesis of all these varied conditions. In addition, they master the pharmacodynamics and kinetics of several drugs used by these patients for their comorbidities and the possible interactions of these drugs with the drugs to be used during the perioperative period.
Advancements in technologies have come handy as anesthesiologists embark the use of advanced monitoring devices to critically analyze the dynamic changes happening inside the body in the perioperative period such asechocardiography, near-infrared spectroscopy, bispectral index, continuous hemoglobin monitoring, and imaging various parts of the body with ultrasound including assessing airway, gastric volume, lung ultrasound, urinary bladder volume, and Focused Assessment with Sonography in trauma (FAST). They are also the last word for managing PAIN, the most common symptom for which a patient enters a hospital, be it acute due to trauma, post-operative, burns, or chronic. Moreover, anesthesiologists are the specialists well-versed with resuscitation of critically ill patients. Anesthesia is, therefore, the medical branch which encompasses all the other medical specialties and anesthesiologists are the only specialists equipped with offering solutions to patients in the perioperative period irrespective of their age, comorbidities, polypharmacy, and pathologies. Hence, it is prudent that globally anesthesiologists should take up the responsibility of being a perioperative physician as they are the ones best suited for this role.
| How to Cite this Article: Subramanian B. Anesthesiologist as a perioperative physician. Journal of Anesthesia and Critical Care Case Reports Sep-Dec 2017; 3(3):29. |
