Anesthesiology
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Biography Historical Article
Michael Faraday and his contribution to anesthesia.
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was a protégé of Humphry Davy. He became one of Davy's successors as Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Of Faraday's many brilliant discoveries in chemistry and physics, probably the best remembered today is his work on electromagnetic induction. ⋯ Sulfuric ether was a common, convenient, cheap, and easily available substance, in contrast to nitrous oxide, which required expensive, cumbersome, and probably not widely available apparatus for its production and administration. The capability for inhaling intoxicating vapors eventually became commonly available with the use of ether instead of the gas. The first surgical anesthetics were a consequence of the resulting student "ether frolics." The 1818 announcement on breathing ether vapor was published anonymously; however, notations in Faraday's handwriting in some of his personal books clearly establish Michael Faraday as the author of this brief communication.
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Controlled substance dependence (CSD) among anesthesiology personnel, particularly residents, has become a matter of increasing concern. Opinions vary as to the effectiveness of controlled substances (CS) accountability in deterring, identifying, or confirming CSD. A survey of program directors of American anesthesiology training programs was conducted in the summer of 1990 to determine the level of CS dispensing and accountability within their programs. ⋯ The presence of significant CSD, particularly among anesthesiology residents, was reconfirmed. We were unable to correlate the level of accountability of CS with the incidence of CSD. It remains to be seen to what extent CS accountability will continue to develop and whether CSD prevalence will then be changed.
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Letter Case Reports
Use of the capnograph to detect leaks in the anesthesia circuit.