Anaesthesia and pain medicine
First published: 29 November 2019
Summary
The foundations of anaesthesia practice are general anaesthesia, regional anaesthesia, airway management, perioperative medicine, pain medicine, resuscitation crisis management, and safety and quality. The broad aspects of anaesthesia are one or more of pain relief, sleep or sedation, no memory (amnesia), muscle relaxation, and stable physiology, particularly haemodynamic stability to minimise the risks of surgery and anaesthesia for individual patients and for providing optimal operating conditions leading to the best possible surgical outcomes. Good pain control after surgery is a central part of postoperative care. The most important cause of chronic post-surgical pain is severe acute postoperative pain.
