1. What does an anesthesiologist do?
The position of the anesthesiologist during surgery is very important. In addition to conducting pre anesthesia assessments and administering anesthesia to the patient before the surgery begins, the surgeon must also be responsible for handling the physiological reactions caused by anesthesia and surgery, maintaining the basic vital functions of the patient under anesthesia, such as heartbeat, breathing, blood circulation, and oxygen delivery, and preventing and urgently handling possible abnormalities during anesthesia to avoid complications and serious sequelae. Anesthesiologists have the ability to save the lives of patients in critical situations. They are not only important tasks in the operating room, but also the main force in emergency rescue and first aid for critically ill patients. Ensuring the safety of patients' lives is the primary responsibility of our anesthesiologists, and painlessness and maintaining stable vital signs are our main tasks.
2. What are the main anesthesia methods?
There are three main anesthesia methods: 1. General anesthesia 2. Regional block anesthesia 3. Local anesthesia. Each has many forms and uses.
Why do anesthesiologists ask so many questions?
In addition to relieving pain and comfort during the operation, the anesthesiologist is responsible for most of the maintenance of important life functions, so it is very important to understand the patient's medical conditions, including past disease history, recent medication, allergy history, anesthesia surgery history, whether there is diabetes, asthma, bronchitis, heart disease, etc. at ordinary times, and which drugs to take for a long time should be truthfully informed to your anesthesiologist, so that the anesthesiologist can be prepared to treat some diseases during the anesthesia process, so as not to affect life safety.
Why should patients not eat before surgery?
Fasting is very important in most anesthesia patients, greatly reducing the probability of vomiting and aspiration. Because some anesthetics weaken the body's normal protective reflexes. For example, the lungs have a protective reflex against foreign objects, such as food in the stomach, preventing them from entering the lungs. However, after anesthesia, these reflexes disappeared. However, stomach acid can greatly stimulate the lungs and often cause aspiration pneumonia, which can lead to respiratory failure and affect life. So for your safety, you should follow the doctor's instructions and fast before surgery.
Does general anesthesia have an impact on intelligence?
The general anesthetics used in modern anesthesia are drugs with minimal impact on the human body and reversible effects. After surgery, they can be completely excreted through human metabolism. Every year, millions of people worldwide use general anesthesia for surgery. Practice has proven that with the correct use by professionals, general anesthetics will not have any impact on intelligence.
6. Are elderly patients at greater risk of anesthesia?
Yes! Different from young patients, elderly patients are often accompanied by systemic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, etc. These high-risk factors increase the difficulty of surgery and anesthesia, and sometimes the surgery is successful, but ultimately the patient still dies due to other factors. So the assessment before anesthesia should be cautious, with life safety as the top priority. Unless emergency surgery is needed to save lives, it is better to postpone the surgery. Due to their poor physiological and physical condition, appropriate anesthesia methods are chosen. Intraoperative monitoring of cardiovascular, pulmonary, respiratory, and renal functions, postoperative care and pain relief, and temperature maintenance are more important. Postoperative complications such as respiratory failure, myocardial hypoxia, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, etc. Even higher than before and during surgery. Anesthetic drugs are also metabolized slowly due to the aging of tissues and organs in elderly patients. Therefore, attention should be paid to reducing the dosage and the delaying effect of the medication.
Is anesthesia as simple as getting an injection?
Anesthesia is not just about getting an injection! Anesthesia ≠ sleep, as everyone has different tolerance and response to anesthetics, accidents and complications are inevitable during the anesthesia process. These accidents mainly include respiratory and circulatory depression, respiratory and cardiac arrest, vomiting, reflux and aspiration, nerve damage, etc. That's why during the entire surgical process, the anesthesiologist cannot leave the patient alone, and must be familiar with every step and next step of the surgery; Fully understand the indications, contraindications, and interactions between various anesthetics, and adjust the type and dosage of anesthetics according to surgical needs at any time. The purpose is to keep the patient's life under normal physiological control. So, anesthesia is not as simple as "getting a shot and sleeping". Anesthesiologists not only relieve pain and make patients lose consciousness through medication treatment. More importantly, monitoring and diagnosing changes in vital functions caused by various factors (primary disease, anesthesia, surgery, etc.) during surgery and anesthesia recovery, and providing timely treatment to ensure the safety of patients during the perioperative period. Ensuring the safety of patients' lives is our primary responsibility as anesthesiologists, and maintaining pain relief and stable vital signs is our main task. Due to the special physical condition of surgical patients or various other reasons, anesthesia may cause poisoning, respiratory depression, and even cardiac arrest, leading to a series of complications and serious anesthesia accidents. Regardless of the situation, our anesthesiologists will handle it promptly and make every effort to save the patient. Anesthesiologists shoulder the weight of every life, and we will do our best to safeguard your life and health!