Library guides: History of anaesthesia: Journals & articles

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Articles of interest

Last updated: 22 October 2021

Loughnan TE et al. History of non-physician anaesthesia providers in Papua New Guinea: from heil tultuls to Anaesthetic Scientific Officers [epub ahead of print, 2021 Sep 24]. Anaesth Intensive Care.
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The most recent estimates, published in 2016, have indicated that around 70% of anaesthesia providers in Papua New Guinea are non-physician anaesthetic providers and that they administer over 90% of anaesthetics, with a significant number unsupervised by a physician anaesthetist. Papua New Guinea has a physician anaesthetist ratio estimated to be 0.25 per 100,000 population, while Australia and New Zealand have a ratio of 19 physician anaesthetists per 100,000, which is 75 times that of Papua New Guinea. To reach a ratio of seven per 100,000, recommended as the minimum acceptable by the Lancet Commission in 2016, there will need to be over 35 practitioners trained per annum until 2030, at a time when the average annual numbers of recent years are less than three physicians and less than five non-physician anaesthetic providers. We review the development of anaesthesia administered by non-physician indigenous staff and the stages of development from heil tultuls, dokta bois, liklik doktas, native medical assistants, aid post orderlies, and Anaesthetic Technical Officers up to the current Anaesthetic Scientific Officers having attained the Diploma in Anaesthetic Science from the University of Papua New Guinea.
Paull JD, Cooper MG. Charles and Emma Darwin: Under the 'influence' of chloroform anaesthesia [epub ahead of print, 2021 Sep 23]. Anaesth Intensive Care.
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A number of Charles Darwin's biographies record the administration of chloroform by Darwin to his wife Emma, during her labour and delivery of her eighth child, Leonard. This occurred on 15 January 1850, a little over two years after James Young Simpson in Edinburgh described the analgesic action of inhaled chloroform. An online search of more than 9000 items of Darwin's correspondence at Cambridge University and other sources revealed that he was an active proponent and user of chloroform in midwifery, for euthanising animals he studied, as well as in botanical studies of carnivorous plants. He also discovered that the concurrent inhalation of chloroform, during its administration to his wife, alleviated his distressing anxiety which he suffered when present at her earlier confinements.
Redmond MJ, Potter TA, Bradley JP. Pilot-administered anaesthesia and the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia: An interview with Captain Keith Galloway [epub ahead of print, 2021 Sep 23]. Anaesth Intensive Care.
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The lack of radio navigational aids in early Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft in Australia occasionally resulted in aircraft being stranded at a remote site with a critically injured patient due to weather and other conditions. For a brief period in the 1950s, at least one Royal Flying Doctor Service pilot was trained to administer anaesthesia to critically ill patients who could not be immediately evacuated. The aim of this paper is to describe the circumstances in which this arose and how it worked in practice. This is based largely on the recollections of pilot anaesthetist Captain Keith Galloway, who shared his recollections during interviews with the authors.
Singh A, Khanna P. Anesthetist and pandemic: past and present. Trends Anes Crit Care. 2021; 36(1):5-8.
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Pandemics have ravaged human civilization at regular intervals for the past 2000 years killing millions of people worldwide [1]. With each pandemic, healthcare workers and hospital systems have borne the brunt of these outbreaks fulfilling their moral responsibility to treat and give a healing touch to already distressed situations. Each outbreak has tested the exceptionally very high level of skill, expertise as well as the professional commitment of healthcare workers.
Coleman M, et al. Softly treading digitalis's timeline, foxglove has fingers in botany and medicine. Anesthesiology. 2021;134(3):404.
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Anesthesiology reflections from the Wood Library-Museum.
Ball CM, Featherstone PJ. 'I need help': A historical perspective on recovery from substance abuse. [epub ahead of print, 2021 Jan 27]. Anaesth Intensive Care.
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When Thomas Trotter retired from his long career as physician to the Channel Fleet in 1804, he published his earlier MD thesis—an essay on drunkenness. While Trotter was not the first to recognise the problem of addiction, or to suggest potential treatments, his manuscript was the first book-length discussion on the subject—and the first to suggest that addiction was ‘a disease of the mind’. His seminal work probably had little impact at the time—the medical profession, and the general public, were more supportive of the moralistic tone promoted by Benjamin Rush in his 1785 pamphlet ‘Ardent Spirits’.

Mulier JP, Hunter JM, de Boer HD. Seventy-five years since the birth of the Liverpool anaesthetic technique. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2020 Nov 24:S0007-0912(20)30861-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2020.10.020.

Loughnan TE, Wake PB. Dr Himson Tamur Mulas, the first national specialist anaesthetist in Papua New Guinea. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 Dec 13:310057X20977507. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20977507.

Cronin M. Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and the women whose names were not recorded: the legacy of J Marion Sims. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 Nov 29:310057X20966606. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20966606.

Featherstone PJ, Ball CM. Chlorinated lime and other treatments for snake bite in colonial Australia. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 Nov 10:310057X20969528. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20969528.

Cronin M. Exhibition research and findings: the rare privilege of medicine. Journal of Anesthesia History. 2020 Jun;6(2):90-95. doi: 10.1016/j.janh.2018.10.004.

Featherstone PJ, Ball CM. Masks for the delivery of high fractions of inspired oxygen. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 Sep 24:310057X20953068. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20953068.

Ball CM, Featherstone PJ. Hygiene and personal protection: the anaesthetist's journey. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 Jul;48(4):258-261. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20933801.

Featherstone PJ, Ball CM. The introduction of supplemental oxygen for high altitude balloon flight. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 May;48(3):164-166. doi: 10.1177/0310057X20931704.

Ball CM, Featherstone PJ. The history of carbon dioxide absorption. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 2020 Jan;48(1):4-6. doi: 10.1177/0310057X19898587.

Anaesthesia and Intensive Care History Supplements

Anaesthesia and Intensive Care History Supplement (Sage)
Anaesthesia and Intensive Care is an international journal for clinicians and researchers associated with anaesthesia, intensive care medicine, and pain medicine. It publishes an annual history supplement.
Volume 48 Issue 3, Supplement, November 2020
Articles include:
- Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy, and the women whose names were not recorded: The legacy of J Marion Sims
- From cholera to COVID-19: How pandemics have shaped the development of anaesthesia and intensive care medicine
- Dr Himson Tamur Mulas, the first national specialist anaesthetist in Papua New Guinea
Volume 47 Issue 3, Supplement, September 2019
Volume 46 Issue 1, Supplement, July 2018
Volume 45 Issue 1, Supplement, July 2017
Volume 44 Issue 1, Supplement, July 2016
Volume 43 Issue 1, Supplement, July 2015
Volume 42 Issue 1, Supplement, July 2014

Titles of interest

Journal of Anesthesia History (ClinicalKey)
Vol. 1, 2015 - current
History supplement in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care (Sage)
Vol. 1, 1972 - current

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History of anaesthesia: Journals & articles

Articles of interest

Anaesthesia and Intensive Care History Supplements

Titles of interest

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Journal of Anesthesia History - latest articles