By Christian Bohringer, MBBS
National Anesthesiologists’ Week is a very special time of the year for me. It is the one week of the year when our efforts to keep patients safe during the most dangerous moments of their lives are recognized by lawmakers, hospital administrators, other physicians, and the public. As anesthesiologists, we rarely stand in the spotlight. Those outside of medicine (and many in medicine) do not have a great understanding or appreciation of what we do. We work in the background, facilitating safe care for procedures, and our efforts are often overshadowed by those of surgeons and proceduralists. When innovative, ground-breaking surgeries are reported in the media, for example, we as anesthesiologists are rarely acknowledged for our pivotal role in making these new procedures possible.
Some of our patients are not even aware that anesthesiologists are medical doctors. They do not know that we have trained in internal medicine, critical care, pain management, and perioperative care. We have made some progress in getting the community at large to understand our vital role, but we still have much more work ahead of us.
While patients are often incredibly grateful to the health care system, they rarely remember the anesthesiologist because our drugs (very intentionally) induce amnesia. The same is true when we work in the critical care unit. While family members may remember us, the patients rarely do so. As anesthesiologists, we work long hours looking after patients who cannot remember our diligence and our commitment to their safety. Ironically, such a lack of memory is the hallmark of an effective anesthetic. However, this does not mean our work is unimportant. It is rather the opposite; when life hangs in the balance, it is the anesthesiologist who steps up to the plate and saves the patient’s life. This is understood very clearly by our surgical colleagues but not by many people who work outside of the operating room.
Although our job can be arduous with long hours, we gain significant satisfaction from preserving and improving the quality of patients’ lives. Focusing on this aspect of our work can be a powerful source of strength to combat burnout.
National Anesthesiologists’ Week is a critical event for me because it gives me an opportunity to inform the public about our important work. Everyone needs to understand the tremendous responsibility we have and the exceptional personal integrity that is required to perform our job safely. Only the most reliable people can be entrusted with keeping patients safe while they are at their most vulnerable. We need to explain to the American public that our profession requires highly qualified, ethical staff who can be trusted to do the right thing, even under extremely stressful circumstances.
Finally, I would like all of you to join me in embracing National Anesthesiologists’ Week. We should be proud of the work that we do and share the importance of our work with people both inside and outside of medicine.