Anesthesiology

Anesthesiology, often known as anaesthesiology or anaesthesia, is a branch of medicine that focuses on the pre-operation, operative, and post-operative treatment of patients undergoing surgical procedures. Anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, and pain medicine are all included in this field of study. Depending on the nation, a physician who specialises in anesthesiology may be referred to as an anesthesiologist, an anaesthesiologist, or an anaesthetist. In some nations, the names relate to the same position; but, in other nations, the title "anaesthetist" is reserved exclusively for medical professionals who are not doctors, such as nurse anaesthetists. In other nations, the terms are synonymous.

Anesthesiology is a medical speciality that focuses on the study of the use of anaesthesia to safely maintain a patient's critical functions while they are undergoing surgical procedures. Anesthesiology has come a long way since the 19th century, when it was still an experimental discipline with non-specialist practitioners utilising innovative, untested medications and procedures. Today, anesthesiology is a highly polished, safe, and successful specialty of medicine. Anesthesiologists make up the largest single cohort of doctors working in hospitals in some countries, and their responsibilities can extend far beyond the traditional role of providing anaesthesia care in the operating room. These responsibilities can include providing pre-hospital emergency medicine, running intensive care units, transporting critically ill patients between facilities, and running prehabilitation programmes to better prepare patients for surgery.

It is believed that Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was the first person to use anaesthesia in the contemporary meaning of the word in the medical field in 1846. The following year, James Young Simpson popularised the term, which led to its widespread usage. Henry William Blanc first put up the concept of anesthesiology in 1889, and Mathias Joseph Seifert re-coined the term in 1902. The word originates from the Ancient Greek -an-, which means "not," -asth-, which means "feeling," and -o-logia, which means "study."