ill you help to highlight anesthesiology’s far-reaching role? The tools are available!

As many readers know, Doctors Day is celebrated on March 30 each year in communities throughout the United States. It’s unfortunate, but we sometimes need a refresher as to why ASA makes a big deal out of this day.

While physicians in all specialties and in primary care are honored, Doctors Day was first observed because of the efforts of one physician whose endeavors related specifically to the specialty of anesthesiology.

On March 30, 1842, Crawford W. Long, M.D., of Jefferson, Georgia, administered the first ether anesthetic to James Venable and then operated to remove a tumor from the man’s neck. The man would swear later that he felt nothing during the surgery and was not aware it was over until he awoke. Dr. Long’s history-making achievement on that day, and the continuous efforts by physicians to alleviate human suffering in the 164 years since then, have become the basis for celebrating Doctors Day each year.

Topical Themes
More recently ASA’s Committee on Communications (COC) has been spearheading the annual effort to observe this day by talking up the depth and breadth of the anesthesiologist’s role in patient care and safety. Each year we strive to select a topic for our Doctors Day public education materials that illustrates a specific area of medicine in which our members play a key role. Past topics have included critical care, disaster preparedness and pain medicine, to name a few. There are multiple audiences for our messages: the media, the public and our colleagues.

Lest you think that such “PR” efforts are for naught, let me share this story. An ASA staff person on a recent plane trip overheard a conversation between two other passengers who had just met. The first, a health care executive who had just had surgery on his forearm, struck up a conversation with his seatmate, a nurse. The executive, who sets up various health care centers around the country, was sharing the details of his surgery. “I was a little apprehensive about the anesthesia,” he said. “But you know, the great thing about the field of anesthesiology is all the stuff they’ve done to improve patient safety.” The nurse agreed. “Oh, I know,” she chimed in. “And all of the developments over the years, like capnography and pulse oximetry…they really have made a difference.” Their conversation could have been lifted straight from the “Patient Safety” section of the ASA Web site! But it could just as likely have been the result of positive impressions made by their anesthesiology colleagues.

Convincing Patients to Quit
For 2007 our Doctors Day theme will be smoking cessation. There is no better time to draw attention to this public health priority and why it is important to us as a specialty. ASA has a new Smoking Cessation Initiative Task Force, chaired by David O. Warner, M.D. A NEWSLETTER article on this effort appeared in the October 2006 issue.

Based on data collected in the late 1990s, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that adult male smokers lost an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lost 14.5 years of life because of smoking.

As anesthesiologists we see the consequences of smoking in our patients. Some are having surgery because of an illness related to this habit. Others are less healthy going into other kinds of surgery because of the effects of smoking on their hearts and lungs. Postoperatively it has been shown that wound infection is less likely in nonsmokers. For these and many other reasons related to health and quality of life, we should do what we can to help our smoking patients to quit. The perioperative period offers a unique opportunity when an intervention by a physician may increase the likelihood of abstinence from smoking. The ASA task force is looking at the best ways to do that.

For Doctors Day 2007, the COC and the ASA Communications Department will prepare numerous materials for the media as well as for our members to use in marking the occasion. As usual a video news release will be available for television stations to air. It will aim to pique interest in the fact that an anesthesiologist, as a perioperative physician, wants to help patients put smoking in their past. A media kit will be distributed to health reporters, including a press release, Doctors Day fact sheet and background information on smoking and anesthesia.

Bear Goes Into Hibernation
Please Note: For 2007 there will not be a Doctors Day poster in the winter mailing to ASA members. This is because, as you may remember, the COC decided to retire the teddy bear theme after last year. This decision was based on member input. The 2006 House of Delegates approved the committee’s recommendations for funding for a branding campaign. The committee has decided to wait until the results of the branding campaign are finalized before designing future Doctors Day posters.

The branding campaign will look at the image and messages our members wish to convey throughout all of our public education materials as well as target audiences and the best way to reach them. Part of this effort will include developing graphic treatments and a tag line that will endure for several years or more. We hope to incorporate these ideas into the next round of Doctors Day materials beginning in 2008.

In lieu of the poster this year, the COC will provide an article that ASA members can help to place in their hospital publications or community newspapers or even post on bulletin boards.

In addition ASA makes available a prepared speech presentation on smoking cessation, which members may download from the ASA Web site [link]. This presentation will be updated for Doctors Day 2007, and I encourage you to consider using it for an event in your community.

With these tools, I hope you will join the year-round efforts of the COC, the members who have trained as spokespersons and the communications staff in disseminating substantive and relevant information to your audience — who may be your patients, your colleagues and/or your local media. Each and every member can make a difference in his or her own universe by spending a few minutes to shine a light on anesthesiology this Doctors Day — March 30, 2007. Let us know how we can help! Contact the COC or the communications staff at communications@ASAhq.org.

Michael H. Entrup, M.D., is Chair, Department oF Anesthesiology, Lahey Clinic, Burlington, Massachusetts.