July 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 7
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| Letters to the
Editor |
When in 'Toddlin' Town,' See WLM
One day last month, I found myself with an unexpectedly free
day in Chicago. So I borrowed our son's car and toddled over to
the new Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology in Park Ridge.
When I got there, I realized I had exhibited brilliant serendipity.
I am writing to suggest to your readers that they can do the same,
with at least as much pleasure, when on the loose in Chicago.
I was received with great courtesy, given a short but luminous
course in library usage methods and then was shown around the
refurbished museum. The displays are clear and compelling. I found
it hard to leave. One can see, face to face, such treasures as
an original painting of Sir Humphry Davy, Laennec's own stethoscope
and the original patent application by Charles Jackson and William
T.G. Morton for an "Improvement in Surgical Operations,"
a phrase that seems to have become the understatement of the century.
I was told that about 300 members per year visit the Wood Library-Museum;
although my math is weak, that is approximately 1 percent of our
members. The other 99 percent of our members do not realize what
they are missing. Perhaps by visiting the Wood Library-Museum,
their fears for the future of anesthesia would be assuaged; one
can see there the staggering progress of our specialty in the
last 150 years and, if we continue to improve at even only half
that rate, our future is bright.
Gerald L. Zeitlin, M.D.
Newton, Massachusetts
Act in Unison
May I commend ASA President Phillip O. Bridenbaugh, M.D., for
his forthright stand on the importance of ASA as the representative
of its members and its state and subspecialty components [President's
Page, NEWSLETTER, February 1997]. Phil and I have worked
together as ASA Directors, and he has labored long and hard and
diligently in the interest of our specialty.
Anesthesiology, however, is only one of many parts to the House
of Medicine. If one specialty society, having the interests of
just its own members at heart, thinks and acts independently of
other specialties, differences occur and the voice of medicine
is diluted. I have seen what happens when legislators are bombarded
by differing medical groups, lobbying both for and against the
same bill; the legislators would say to each other, "Can't
those docs make up their mind what they want?" It was a babel
of confusion!
The American Medical Association is the only forum that exists
where doctors can come together to formulate a policy that speaks
for all of medicine. I have heard M. Pepper Jenkins, M.D., and
John Hattox, M.D., as Delegates from ASA on the floor of the AMA
House as they took our viewpoints firmly to other doctors from
everywhere, influencing AMA policy. They were helped by a number
of ASA members who were from state delegations, carrying our views
to their state caucuses. Our AMA Section on Anesthesiology holds
its caucus at every AMA Convention, to solidify our position on
the floor of the AMA House. Dr. Jenkins was also Chair of the
AMA Council of Specialty Societies, the largest caucus in the
House.
We are physicians first and anesthesiologists second. Let us
take part as members of AMA and the state medical societies and
act in unison toward legislators and the public. Each specialty
society must not retreat into its own castle, pull up the drawbridge
and shoot arrows across the moat at whoever decides when we are
next to be picked off, one specialty at a time!
E pluribus unum!
Val F. Borum, M.D.
Forth Worth, Texas
(Dr. Borum is a former AMA delegate from Texas and past President
of the Texas Medical Association.)
Georgia's Native Son Challenges Scottish Counterpart
I enjoyed the review
by Donald Caton, M.D., of the origins of obstetrical anesthesia
[NEWSLETTER, February 1997]. However, as has occurred with
the discovery of ether anesthesia, Dr. Crawford Long may have
been overlooked as the first to administer ether analgesia for
childbirth and as one of the early obstetrical anesthetists.
Dr. Long's daughter has written: "My father began the administration
of ether in his obstetrical work a few years after his discovery
[of ether anesthesia for surgery in 1842]. According to the testimony
of my mother, he administered it to her at the birth of one of
her children about 1847, which was probably his first use in obstetrics.
From that time until his death in 1878, he used it at his discretion
in all such cases."1
Thus, as this 150th year of obstetrical anesthesia is celebrated,
let us remember Dr. Long's efforts in this matter, even though
they were not as well-published as his Scottish counterpart's.
Robert A. Strickland, M.D.
Rochester, Minnesota
Reference:
1. Taylor FL. Crawford W. Long & The Discovery of Ether Anesthesia.
New York: Paul B. Hoeber, Inc.; 1928:81-82.
Think Globally, Act Locally
This is in response to Dr. Phillip O. Bridenbaugh's "President's
Page," ["What
Are Our Educational Responsibilities?" NEWSLETTER,
March 1997]. As a member of a department that has a training
program for nurse anesthetists, I do not train nurse anesthetists
and nurse anesthetist trainees in certain procedures for the following
reasons:
- Anyone can be taught how to perform the technical procedures
in anesthesia. Which procedures to perform, when
to perform them and when not to perform them are the
differences between anesthesiologists' and nurse anesthetists'
education and training.
- In the minds of many nurse anesthetists, the AANA [American
Association of Nurse Anesthetists] and some hospital administrators,
training in certain technical procedures is the only difference
between an anesthesiologist's and a nurse anesthetist's education
and training.
- Teaching is a courtesy, and accepting medical and legal responsibility
for someone else's hands and judgment is a courtesy. Accepting
medical and legal responsibility for inexperienced hands and
judgment is a big courtesy. Given the insulting and inflammatory
nature of the AANA's positions and agenda, it would be foolish
for anesthesiologists to train nurse anesthetists in all aspects
of anesthetic practice.
I encourage my colleagues engaged in the education and training
of nurse anesthetists to think globally and act locally.
David B. Zucker, M.D.
Dallas, Pennsylvania
The views and opinions expressed in the "Letters
to the Editor" are those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of ASA or the NEWSLETTER Editorial Board. The
Editor has the authority to accept or reject any letter submitted
for publication. Letters must be signed (although name may be
withheld on request) and are subject to editing and abridgment.
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