Exhibition Research and Findings: The Rare Privilege of Medicine.

On 8 March 2018, the Geoffrey Kaye Museum of Anaesthetic History launched its latest exhibition in an online format, The Rare Privilege of Medicine: Women Anaesthetists in Australia and New Zealand. The launch was deliberately timed to coincide with International Women's Day which carried the theme of "Press for Progress." These women's stories reveal them to have been champions for progress, as well as having the potential to be inspirational beacons of progress for the future, thereby fitting easily into the theme. This article highlights the stories of Dr. Janet Greig and Dr. Lily Jörgensen, two women featured within the exhibition. Other women are also represented, as their stories provide some degree of context to the two featured women, even though there is no evidence to suggest that they did significant work in anesthesia practice. However, this article should not be considered biographical in nature. Instead, it operates within a distinct theoretical perspective, examining the way in which historians research and interpret the past. It also considers the exhibition research, and the exhibition itself, to be a launch point for more nuanced work in this area.

Woman and Anesthetist in Bir Hakeim.

Louise-Marie Lemanissier was a French physician who, after The Appeal of 18 June, joined with her husband the doctors of the Free French Forces (FFL) during World War II. The 1st Free French Division moved to Bir Hakeim on February 13, 1942, and the Lemanissier couple joined it in the Hadfield Spears Mobile Surgical Ambulance. Louise-Marie Lemanissier performed anesthesia among other duties. Anesthesia techniques seem to have been limited to the use of the Ombredanne's mask. After 17 days, the 1st Free French Division broke the siege on June 10, 1942, to join with the British troops. The couple returned to Syria until the end of war, and then returned to France. Louise-Marie Lemanissier passed her medical thesis in 1947, devoted to serotherapy in the treatment of Diphtheria. She died in 2007 in her hundredth year.

A Forgotten Contribution to Early Anesthesia Literature: The Chloroform Problem: A Textbook Unrepresentative of Contemporary Opinion.

Dr. Richard Gill published a textbook in London in 1906 titled The CHCl3 - Problem. Gill was the Chief Chloroformist at St Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and was recognized as an excellent clinical anesthetist and was of an intelligent but reclusive and eccentric personality. This textbook is rarely found and has not been appreciated in the history of anesthesia for several reasons including that it was generally ignored at publication and few copies exist in libraries around the world. The CHCl3Problem is written in a verbose, archaic, and convoluted fashion and is rarely quoted. It has no references whatsoever. Gill was extensively quoted by one of his students who returned to Australia, Dr. John W Bean, which brought the book to the authors' attention. It was found on the Internet, and a copy from the Boston Medical Library had been scanned and was available as a print-on-demand.

Anesthetists and Intensivists Who Defied the Cold War.

The term "Iron Curtain" described the barrier between communist East Europe and the capitalist West from 1945. Next the term "cold war" was introduced for the confrontation between these two sides without open warfare, because of the deterrent of atomic weapons. Restriction in collaboration between those on either side extended to the medical profession, including anesthesia, resuscitation and intensive care. Archives and publications from both sides of the Iron Curtain were perused to reveal the important role of those who defied the Cold War to maintain collaboration between anesthesiologists. From 1956 the British doyen of anesthesia, Sir Robert Macintosh began liaison with personnel in the USSR, which led to reciprocal visits. In this liaison a notable Russian anesthesiologist was Igor Zhorov. Then the WHO Copenhagen Anaesthesiology Centre had an impact. Later liaison from the USA came via Emanuel Papper, followed by Peter Safar. Other notable participants included Vladimir Negovsky from the USSR as well as Hugo Keszler and Jiri Pokorny from Czechoslovakia. These efforts in collaboration helped improvement of standards on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

An Allied Anesthetic?: De Preissac's Political Cartoon of Hitler's Surgery.

During World War II, the French Resistance used political cartoons while fighting for France's freedom from Nazi domination. Reprinting Jean de Preissac's 1945 political cartoon of Allied leaders operating as Hitler's anesthetist and surgeons, a commemorative postcard was issued on the 20th anniversary of the radio broadcast credited with founding the French Resistance, General Charles de Gaulle's "Appeal of 18 June 1940."

Related Gunmen Paddock Committed Murder-Suicide in 1888 and in 2017.

Genealogical and periodical research reveals that two distantly related gunmen surnamed Paddock, a retired dentist-anesthetist and a retired accountant, committed murder-suicide in 1888 and in 2017, respectively.

The 2016 Lewis H. Wright Memorial Lecture: America's Doctor Anaesthetists (1862-1936)-Turning a Tide of Asphyxiating Waves.

Laughing-gas showman G.Q. Colton franchised dental extraction under 100% nitrous oxide in many large American cities before popularizing the practice with French Imperial Court dentist T.W. Evans in France and then England. Chicago dentist Z. Rogers helped surgeon E. Andrews oxygenate nitrous oxide, with neither man changing significantly the clinical practices of others. London's F.W. Hewitt and Pittsburgh's S.J. Hayes oxygenated anesthetics with greater clinical impact. By 1920, E.I. McKesson had publicized his practice of secondary saturation with bursts of 100% nitrous oxide to relax musculature in anesthetized patients. In the banner year of 1936, (1) C.B. Courville published a paper about brain damage following hypoxic anesthetics, (2) pulse oximetry pioneer T. Aoyagi was born, and (3) a New York society nationalized into the American Society of Anesthetists, many of whose presidents would champion the adequate oxygenation and the monitoring of anesthetized patients. Many dental and medical doctors first promoted and then eventually opposed hypoxic anesthetics, finally turning the tide of asphyxiating waves.

A personal history of the MASTER Trial and its link to the clinical trials network of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

The aim of this paper is to link the history of the Multicentre Australian Study of Epidural Anaesthesia in high risk surgery, the MASTER Trial, the first National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded multicentre randomised clinical trial in Australia led by anaesthetist researchers, and the decision of The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) to establish a clinical trials network, in 2003, to the success of contemporary researchers in Australia and New Zealand in anaesthesia and perioperative medicine.

Anaesthesia on the Western Front-perspectives a century later.

This year, 2016, marks the centenary of some of the worst battles of World War I. It is timely to reflect on the experiences of those who lived through those events, and the significant effects on the development of anaesthesia that occurred as a result. War has been a catalyst that has accelerated the development of medicine and surgery throughout history. The challenges of the Western Front, with its massive numbers of injured, saw progress in the understanding and management of trauma and shock, and significant improvement in the provision of anaesthesia and the training of anaesthesia providers. The result was increased anaesthetic safety for the civilian population after the war and further development of anaesthesia and resuscitation as a specialised area of medicine.

Contribuciones de enfermería a la anestesiología en Costa Rica / Contribution nursing to the anesthesiology in Costa Rica

ResumenIntroducción. En el presente artículo se presentan los resultados de un estudio que cuyo objetivo fue identificar la participación de la enfermería en el desarrollo de la anestesiología en Costa Rica.Método. Se aplicó la metodología de la investigación histórica para determinar los sucesos ocurridos en el pasado relacionados con el desarrollo de la anestesia, así como las contribuciones de enfermería. Se analizó fuentes primarias y secundarias que fueron sistematizadas, valoradas, ordenadas y sintetizadas. Se aplicó la técnica de grupo focal y entrevistas en profundidad a 23 enfermeras (os) técnicos en anestesia que laboran actualmente y a las enfermeras (os) pensionados.Resultados. Durante más de 90 años la administración de anestesia a las personas fue llevada a cabo por enfermeras (os), no obstante, la formación de enfermería en anestesia fue suspendida en 1981.Conclusión. El estudio determinó que este personal tenía una preparación formal dada por el doctor Sotela que luego fue ampliada a año y medio por la Escuela de Medicina de la Universidad de Costa Rica, institución de la que egresaban como técnicos en anestesia.

AbstractIntroduction. In this article the results of a study that aimed to identify the nursing involvement in the development of anesthesiology in Costa Rica are presented.Method. Historical research methodology is applied to determine the events related to the development of anesthesia as well as the contributions of nursing. The primary and secondary sources were systematized, evaluated, ordered and synthesized. The technique of focal group and interviews in depth with 23 nurses anesthesia technicians that currently working and pensioners was applied.Result. During more than 90 years staff of the discipline conducted the administration of anesthesia to people and training in anesthesia nursing was suspended in 1981.Conclusion. The study found that the staff had formal training given by Dr. Sotela which was later extended to one and a half by the School of Medicine of the University of Costa Rica, an institution that were teaching as technicians in anesthesia.

49 Mathoura Road: Geoffrey Kaye's Center of Excellence for the Australian Society of Anaesthetists.

Geoffrey Kaye, M.B.B.S. (1903 to 1986), was a prominent Australian anesthetist, researcher, and educator who envisioned that anesthesia practice in Australia would be comparable to European and American anesthesia practice during the 1940s and 1950s. Kaye's close relationship with Francis Hoeffer McMechan, M.D., F.I.C.A. (1879 to 1939), which began when Kaye left a favorable impression on McMechan at a meeting of the Australasian Medical Congress in 1929, eventually led Kaye to establish an educational center for the Australian Society of Anaesthetists at 49 Mathoura Road, Toorak, Melbourne, Australia, in 1951. The center served as the "Scientific Headquarters" and the Australian Society of Anaesthetists' official headquarters from 1951 to 1955. Although anesthesia's recognition as a specialty was at the heart of the center, Kaye hoped that this "experiment in medical education"-equipped with a library, museum, laboratory, workshop, darkroom, and meeting space-would "bring anaesthetists of all lands together" in Australia. The lack of member participation in Kaye's center, however, led Kaye to dissolve the center by 1955. Previous research has documented the history of Kaye's center from correspondence between Kaye and influential American anesthesiologist Paul M. Wood, M.D. (1894 to 1953), from 1939 to 1955. Through letters Kaye sent to American anesthesiologist Paul M. Wood, M.D. (1894 to 1963), the authors see Kaye's detailed plans, design, and intent for the center at 49 Mathoura Road. Comparisons of Kaye's letters to Wood during the 1950s with his letters to Gwenifer Wilson, M.D., M.B.B.S. (1916 to 1988), during the 1980s illustrate a change in Kaye's perceptions regarding the failure of the center.